Times have been really tough on all our families these past few years. Your relatives here in the U.S. have been watching the troubles you have been having in your family, and we're deeply worried about you.
First and foremost, we really love you and we're not trying to be judgmental. While some can certainly argue that we stole her from your family, you gave us our greatest gift: beautiful, placid Canada. We hope you can all see how the strong relationship we have with her is one of our greatest treasures. We hope you can see the treasures in your own relationships with one another.
Financial woes have the potential to strain any family, and we wish there was more we could do to help solve your debt crisis. This kind of problem should be settled between family members, and we are not trying to meddle, just support you through this difficult situation. The best advice we can offer is for you to stick together, to look past your current struggles to a far more prosperous future, and look to the past, where the divided European family turned on itself time and again with horrific consequences.
To our western and northern European relatives, we know how hard you have worked to educate your children and build strong financial foundations for your homes and businesses. We also know it will take patience and commitment to help your southern clans develop a comparable level of financial strength and discipline. Please don't give up on them, many of whom like elders Greece, Italy and Spain have contributed greatly to the family institutions and culture that bind all of us together.
Germany, Germany. You've always been one of the smartest and most industrious members in our extended family. When it comes to holding your European family together through this debt crisis, you probably bear the heaviest burden. We know it's not fair for someone who has worked so hard and been so responsible to sacrifice for family members who have not lived up to their responsibilities. But you have tried to go it alone or impose your will on your European brothers and sisters several times in the past 150 years, and everyone in the family paid a terrible price.
To our southern European relatives, we know how hard it is to compete with members of our global family, to carve out a comfortable niche in an ever-changing world. We also know how ungrateful some family members must appear in your time of need ... ungrateful of your considerable contributions to the European family such as democracy, architectual innovations and your leading role in the Renaissance many centuries ago. But there are some aspects of your modern lifestyle, such as over reliance on government subsidies, that you will have to change to keep your family together.
To our eastern European relatives, you are the long-lost loved ones who only recently were welcomed as full-fledged members of the European family. Don't despair over the forces threatening to pull your kin apart after enduring decades of painful hardship on a long road home. Do your utmost to encourage your squabbling European siblings to not only settle their differences but also reaffirm their commitment to each other and move forward with a shared sense of purpose.
We in the U.S. ask all of these things not just for our European family but for our own. Since the great discords of the last century, everyone on both sides of the Atlantic has thrived most when our families have tackled challenges with unity and cooperation.
With peace and love,
Your U.S. family
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