My fellow Americans, it's safe to say our country has MORE THAN A FEW problems. Sometimes, it's easy to forget that there are actually things we do well.
So this week, a Reddit thread asked users: "Non-Americans of Reddit, what are the positives of America that you see?"
The thread quickly went viral, as thousands of people across the globe started sharing the things they appreciate most about America. Here are some of the top-voted responses:
1. "How accommodating many places are to disabled people, especially for people in wheelchairs. There are often ramps and large disabled parking spaces, not to mention that there is an entire amusement park for people in wheelchairs in San Antonio!"
2. "You guys invest a lot in entertainment. The shows in my country suck."
3. "Big living spaces. I live in Hong Kong and our average flat sizes are around 300 to 500 square feet. If you are in a flat that's over 1,000 square feet, that's considered super luxurious."
4. "Cheaper housing for huge houses. We could get a villa in Florida for the same price as a semi-detached three-bedroom house in the UK."
5. "People there are really nice and talkative. Here you don't ask where tourists are from or begin a conversation just randomly while in a grocery store. Was a bit confused by you guys saying 'How are you?' as a greeting, though. I knew you did this, but still, it caught me off guard."
6. "They make a lot of great music. I'm sort of a metalhead and my country doesn't have any rock bands."
7. "You can right turn on red lights."
8. "Hospitality and kindness. On my travels in America, I found the majority of Americans to be kind, keen to help, and lovely to spend time with."
9. "Safety in rural areas. Our dream is to buy a farm and live peacefully, but where I live, it's so dangerous it's unreal. When I see movies or programs about people living on ranches or farms in some town in the US, it looks amazing. We could never."
10. "Free refills at restaurants. Still amazed."
11. "The country has everything! You want mountains, you got it! You want forest, you got it! You want beaches, you got it! You want huge cities, you got it! In Europe, you have to go from country to country to achieve this."
12. "You have a large, well-educated population, a dynamic economy, a professional civil service, and arguably the most favorable geographic position among all countries today. You also have a culture of liberty which, although facing challenges, is a potent inoculation against totalitarians."
13. "NASA."
14. "Zip codes have only numbers — easier to remember than postal codes. And all telephone numbers throughout the country have exactly the same number of digits."
15. "Optimism. Even with the ridiculous political situation, Americans are naturally optimistic."
16. "My country never would have thought of replacing the bread in a KFC chicken sandwich with TWO PIECES OF CHICKEN. Genius. Keep 'em coming."
17. "The diversity is wonderful, in its people, culture, food, architecture, and nature."
18. "I have to say Americans are very talkative and they do like to socialize a lot. They love to get together a lot and meet up. There are lots of places to have fun and hang out, like arcades, bowling alleys, bars... it’s just not something people really do where I live."
19. "The best food I have seen in 35 different countries visited. The food diversity in the US is phenomenal, and Americans have perfected many cuisines. In Europe, there’s way too much attention to being authentic, and in the US it really feels like the melting pot and 'bastardization' of cuisines has elevated food to a whole new level."
20. "America has some of the very best museums in the world. I spent a week going through the Smithsonian in Washington and it was amazing."
21. "Innovation. Americans think of really cool stuff and make it happen, from Disneyland to iPhones."
And finally...
22. "You are allowed to publicly criticize your government and leader."
Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.