MY (our) WAY - or the highway?

Here's a little analogy - of sorts - I thought of this morning with respect to this country and our foreign policy, perhaps. See what you think of it and if my thoughts on this "hold water" at all.

My late mother - who I DID love dearly - and I always had a relationship that was rocky. We disagreed on many things over the years and the example I am about to explain here is just one of many things we couldn't come to terms about.

My ex-husband and I built a home next door to my mother which enabled her to pop in and out of my house frequently. This was fine - for the most part - in my opinion, except that she and I didn't see quite eye-to-eye about a lot of stuff and one big issue was housework.

I had then - still do too - the habit of when I washed dishes, I would put them in the drainer and let them drip dry and frequently, I would just take clean dishes then from the drainer to use again - infrequently I might actually get around to putting the dishes all back in their proper places in the cupboards.

Mom, on the other hand, was a firm believer that immediately after washing dishes, they should be towel-dried and also, put away, out of sight and yes, in their proper storage spots too in the cupboards.

Ok - it is not any really big deal there over which one of us had the correct and proper theory there, is there? Either method actually works fine and dandy as long as you have clean dishes available to use - right?

Well yes - to a degree. But, a further issue with my Mom was that she would come to my house, see dishes in the sink drainer and insisted on then putting them away in my cupboards. Ok, also fine except for one small thing - she also insisted on putting them where SHE thought they should go - not necessarily according to the way I had my cupboard organized.

And yes, this is a petty thing to cope with, I do realize that, but it was one that was a thorn in my side and I resented her doing this whenever she came over to my house.

My question here is how is this example of the contention this created between her and I any different, really, between how we - the U.S. go into various countries around the world and insist to these other people, that OUR way is the ONLY way? Isn't that kind of like my Mom insisting on putting my dishes where SHE felt they should go and not following my organizational patterns in my cupboards?

After all, these people in these different countries also have different ideas than we do here; they have different cultures, different mores, different methods of operation on many levels and what right do we as a nation have to go tell them well, you should put your cups here, glasses here, serving dishes in this place - not in the areas where you have them now? Isn't our trying to insist these countries do things Our way operating in the same manner then as my Mom did with my kitchen cupboards?

And my thought there then is gee, it's no damned wonder these other people think we are overbearing!

Does anyone else here share my theory on this? Do you think my analogy "holds water?"

I'd really like to know.