Why People Really Loved America

You hear a lot of stories about people overseas and their love for America. There is one story that sort of wraps it up like a box of See's chocolates. I am writing this as a plea to President Obama. Take a minute out of a busy day to save something dear to lot of us. This item on the agenda may not seem like much, but a mirror on the wall can see only your face and people overseas can see you from the inside out. Thanks Amy Tan for that expression of a mother looking at a daughter, even though it's Father's Day. But this story is sweet and I'd like to keep it that way.

I remember the first chocolate donut I had in Tokyo twenty-eight years ago and the thin waxy brown chocolate that tasted like a candle. I'm not criticizing the Japanese. They know it. I remember always holding up the chocolate bar in the supermarket to see how heavy it was. Usually, it rattled in a box twice as big as it was and then it was again diluted with vegetable oil and whatever else that wasn't as expensive as chocolate. Which brings me to the point.

A month ago I noticed that a chocolate consortium is lobbying Washington for new regulations that would allow it to sell oiled down chocolate on the American market. The first thing I thought was Oh My God. They said it would give them lots of opportunities to sell new products. Oh My God. They said it would be great for business and I guess it would be because cardboard chocolate must be cheap to make, and then there is the big box you put it in, so it looks like a lot, and the double price tag that you stick on it that means you only get a little bit.

And then there are the Japanese who go to America and bring home lots of real chocolate, and, I used to get it sent to me on a ship. Now, I am in Thailand and things seem cheap, but the chocolate comes in very small packages and often rattles in a bigger box and is expensive, and contains things that I don't want to eat sometimes.

So, President Obama, while there are important things you are working on... please take a moment out of a busy day, and tell that chocolate consortium to get lost. Maybe they can come up with a different business plan... like calling people at home and explaining to them how taking out a loan can help you reduce your debt. Because the things people overseas love about America are things no more complicated than a real chocolate bar. Happy Father's Day.