There are millions of rules, regulations, attitudes, and values that make up a given culture. These rules and attitudes are learned from birth and are so internalized that they form a part of who and what we are. The difficulty is that other societies have a different set of rules, regulations, atudes, and values. Many of the actions and items in the two cultures are the same outwardly, but they do not mean the same thing. For example, everyone knows how to wave goodbye. But in Latin America, this same motion means "Come here." Culture shock is the confusion resulting from the distortion of the signs, rules, and regulations that govern social interaction. The reaction to these signs is automatic. Thus, we often have committed mistakes in a new cultural environment before we have had time to think about the situation and react properly. The American president Jimmy Carter gave us a good example of this in Panama. When Presidente Torrijos of Panama met Carter, he tried to give him a friendly abraso (hug). To have done anything less would have shown disrespect for President Carter. Carter, however, reacted automatically to another man trying to hug him and quickly jumped back. This was equivalent to refusing to shake hands. No wonder Americans couldn’t keep the Canal there.