For Christmas, my wife got me the well-known CD by the band “Green Day” called “American Idiot”. It is a really great CD and reminds me of my college days and fraternity parties rocking out to bands like “The Ramones”. Not only that, the album and song tell us something important – that Americans are moving toward a global image of “idiot”. Why is this? Is it because we fail to learn other languages and care about anything outside the USA? That could be partially true. When I lived in Brazil in the 1990s, the Brazilians worked hard to learn what they could from all first world nations – Japan, Europe and the USA. Technical Writing requires me to learn continuously, so I take this criticism with a sense of humor. But it is true that in today’s world, we all need to strive to learn from others from around the globe. In this way, we bypass the unfavorable label of “idiot”. If you join a couple of good social networks, subscribe to a good few e-magazines to stay current in your professional field, and also strive to collaborate with others, then you are doing well. I never enjoyed it if someone told me I was an “idiot” let alone an “American Idiot”.

Fortunately, learning is a great experience.

Best wishes to everyone for 2010