Yesterday, I wrote about the 10 reasons why Romania is better than America , but today I want to discuss why, despite many qualities, Romania is still perceived as -and arguably, is - a backwards country while America is held up worldwide as an example of the ideal place to live. There is only one real reason - if you're reading on a mobile device please sit down as I divulge this mind-blowing secret: In America, it's okay to fail, but it's not okay to give up. In Romania, the exact opposite is true. My first 'official' failure was eleventh grade Biology. I showed up to half the classes, didn't do any homework, and 'studied' thirty minutes before the exam. Did I get shunned, persecuted, and humiliated by my teachers and parents? No, they just said, "try harder next year". You see, in America failure is recognized as a perfectly natural consequence of not trying hard enough. There is no reason to put it on the news and to be a big nega...