Ameen Nasr: A Newcomer’s Wake-Up Call on U.S. Infrastructure

I came to the United States with my family, fleeing war and destruction in my home country, Yemen. My goal was simple: to give my children safety, proper education, and to find decent work to support them with dignity.

From our interview at the embassy to our arrival in Chicago, and eventually settling in Memphis, Tennessee – everything went smoothly. I quickly received my Social Security Number and Green Card. We found housing, schools, and began a new chapter.

But then, something unexpected started to bother me...

Working in food delivery (DoorDash, Uber Eats), I started to notice a strange pattern in the city’s infrastructure:

- A small road near my home was closed for maintenance – but the work dragged on for months with very little visible progress.

- Right after finishing that, another project began on a nearby bridge – same story: workers, equipment, and painfully slow progress.

It seemed that:

- Construction companies cared more about prolonged contracts than timely completion.

- Workers were more focused on filling hours than achieving results.

- This slow, inefficient mentality wasn’t limited to construction – it extended into retail, restaurants, and other service sectors.

In countries like China and Saudi Arabia, I see:

- Entire cities and mega-projects built from scratch in the same time it takes to repair a small road in the U.S.

- Total costs of construction there often match or are even less than basic maintenance costs here.

- Rapid execution, clear results.

If things continue at this pace, will the U.S. be 30 years behind in just 10 years?

What’s at stake:

- A decline in productivity that could lead to economic stagnation.

- Investors losing faith and looking elsewhere.

- Ordinary citizens suffering from outdated infrastructure and poor services.

- And worst of all: a nation once proud of its innovation sliding toward third-world standards.

As a newcomer who deeply appreciates what this country has given me, and as the son of one of the early immigrants in the 1960s, I write this not with anger, but with hope.

The U.S. is still great – but it needs to listen, to reflect, and to act.

Let’s wake up before it’s too late.

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**Note from the author:**

English is not my first language, and I am still learning. I was assisted by a language tool (ChatGPT by OpenAI) to help express my observations clearly and respectfully. These words reflect my personal experience as a new immigrant in the United States.