The Other Side

Elliott enters the supermarket with a sigh. The doors slide open automatically and the chilled air from inside hits him in the face. The bright lights and the huge interior, the loud music coming at him from the loudspeakers that are everywhere in the USin the restaurants, at the gas pump, at the diners, in the grocery storesand the rows and rows of items for sale. It is as though he were in some giants store, where everything possibly imagined could be had. Elliott is almost stunned, unsure of where to go, as is always the case whenever he enters a store like this. It is an overwhelming experience for the young man from Peru. He tries to get through the store and on his way as quickly as he can, but he cant help but notice how the stores are always set up to distract you from your purpose: over here is the womens section, with models peering at one from large walls, tempting one to look over. Over there are rows and stalls of candies and chocolates; further down the aisle are toys and TVs, games, and DVDs; around the bend are sodas, and beers, drinks, and food. He has to try to remember why he came, why he entered this Target in the first place. It is so different from a grocery store back in Peru. He stops in an aisle and looks over at the cartons of milk for sale. He thinks back to how in Peru, milk comes fresh from a goat or from a cow, and can be bought in tiny little bagsnot in big cartons like here in America. He sighs once more. Several people pass by, talking loudly and cursing as though unaware or uncaring that there are young children nearby. Come to think of it, in America, everyone seems to curse loudly, Elliott reflects. What is going on in this country, he wonders for the thousandth time.

What Elliott sees in America is different from what he thinks of as home in Peru. In Peru, life is simpler, more honestto him at leastfresher and more authentic. In America, life feels boxed up, artificial, and often immoral. There do not seem to be any rules on how to act in Americaonly just be yourself, and that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. For Elliott, being oneself opens the door to being anythinga thief, an unfaithful spouse, a drunkard; but of course one is not obliged to be moral just because one is free to choose immoralitybut the point that Elliott makes is that it is easier to be tempted to immorality when anything goes. And what he finds in America is that just about anything does go. As a result, Elliott misses the simple things, like the simplicity of life back in Peruthe way milk comes in a bag at the grocery...…He wants to show some children he met how to play with it. Soccerthey call it football back in Peruis a favorite game of many people in Latin America. It is a simple game and one that Elliott loves with all his heart. He thanks God for having found it in the storethe last one. He goes to the check-out lane and waits his turn. The junk food lining the stall at the check-out lane is in unending supply, he observes. In Peru, there is a limited supply of just about everythingnot like here in America where one seems to be able to have whatever one wantsand it seems what Americans want more than anything else is junk food, judging by the stores and aisles. Elliott thinks fondly on the Peruvian diet, the healthy foods he and his family and friends eatit is simple fare, natural, tasty, and good for you. He looks over at a family of three: a man, a woman, and a childall very heavy-set and their eyes glazed over as though the life in them had been muted by too much materialism and American living. He sighs again. He pays for the soccer ball and heads for the exit. Finally, he is free, and steps out of the store and into the freshif muggyair outside. He surveys a large parking lot before him, full of expensive carseveryone is always driving somewhere in Americaand he turns and begins walking down the sidewalk to the street:…