Sadly, we in the U.S. are not widely recognized as learners, as thoughtful disciples, as understanding people. We are still mostly known for our lack of language learning, our ethnocentricity, and our cultural imperialism, all understandably. But thankfully, we are growing.
A couple months ago, I was living in South Africa. Our power went out regularly, our water was kind of chunky some days, and there was a fair amount of crime.