Overheard at the Russian/Turkish Baths

"These American women don't want to raise children or clean houses anymore. That's why they hire all these nannies you see everywhere." - a middle-aged immigrant woman from Germany
"I always say, what's the use of having children if you're just going to give them to someone else to raise!" - a middle-aged woman living in NYC for the last two years. (Probably from the West Indies)
"I agree. And you know, I think that's what's wrong with Americans these days."

These two women went on to discuss the evils of children not playing outside, spending too much time in front of TV and video games
"I remember when I first came to this country, I thought something is strange, and then I realized, children aren't playing outside. It was eerily quiet."
"You know when my daughter used to play with the neighbor boy, he was always so wound up and crazy. But she would say, 'you know Mom, he's always playing those video games.' It's no wonder he was wound up. That's what those games do."

And then the lack of respect young people now have for the old.
"In my country, if I'm carrying groceries, a young person will offer to walk me home and carry them for me." - said the woman from the unknown country
"It was like that in my country too, when I was growing up! Because we lived in a village. And you know, when I was little, if one of us did something stupid, the neighbor would set you straight. And if our parents found out about it, we'd get in trouble a second time!"
"But kids these days..."

And then they moved on to the adults in this country.
"And now with the Iraqi war, people are crazy."
"Oh, I know."
"Do you know I heard on the subway the other day that the police can just search a person's bag!"
"I know, it's like the Third Reich!"

And the conversation went on. After all, there's so much that's wrong with those Americans.