In Europe, after World War Two, occupied Germans called us the "Ugly Americans".
Considered loud, arrogant, ill mannered, without grace. They smiled and detested us.
We Americans, of course, horrified by the atrocities felt justified to use our bad manners.
As a fifty something woman my observations span a time from Eisenhower to the present.
We really did believe , passionately, that we , as part of an axis, helped free a country committing such horrible crimes against humans-it was an imperative.
In our own country we stood firm, throwing out Nixon, fighting for civil rights and justice, personal freedoms, laws and structure to protect our weakest as well as place protections to prevent the building of a labor force by empires which at every turn attempted to build slave labor.
We took responsibility for the polluting of our lakes and rivers and passed laws to protect our wildlife, lands, air and waterways.
We stood tall in the face of a corrupt Presidential administration as President Nixon resigned and many officials went to prison.
Those very baby boomers who stood in public and protested for change, fought from the university campus's, marched on Washington and used their votes to make a difference are now the old farts -the "establishment" making the changes, calling the shots, changing the laws and using their economic power to influence our policies and laws.
What the hell happened? What changed?
Somehow that sense of justice has been distorted-translated-twisted-
parodied-
To believe the US is not only above the moral laws of the world, but that we set them, to believe that we choose which humans suffer -and that the poor, the disenfranchised, the homeless. the migrant, the abused, the neglected, the elderly and the uneducated -if the cannot compete, they deserve whatever befalls them.
Oh, we don't proclaim that-we do it by ignoring the injustices, attacking the idealists and the dreamer, and creating a mindthink so similar to historical pathways that have led to the altering or downfall of powerful civilizations-it makes my heart hurt.
Our civilization is disillusioned -cynical-distrusting-
we seem to react to it by finding those even more cynical, distrusting and morally corrupt and have them speak for us.
I am afraid for us. We don't stand outraged by our own bad behavior anymore. We don't demand immediate change and accountability.
It's as if the orgy of Rome continues until it destroys itself from within-or somewhere-an outside influence will destroy what we believe in-based on our total apathetic response to the corruption, the arrogance, the ignorance and greed of our government.
Bush "thinks" about what to do in Iraq while our kids die.
This list is a mile long.
Shall I write it again?
Shall I write about high prices, huge corporate profits, the attack on our educational systems? The stagnant wage, unaffordable housing, global warming, corrupt politicians, .........huge national debt
Do we need to keep writing and speaking ?????
Does anyone else grieve as I do?
For all that we believed we could change the world by setting an example-as a free world?
Considered loud, arrogant, ill mannered, without grace. They smiled and detested us.
We Americans, of course, horrified by the atrocities felt justified to use our bad manners.
As a fifty something woman my observations span a time from Eisenhower to the present.
We really did believe , passionately, that we , as part of an axis, helped free a country committing such horrible crimes against humans-it was an imperative.
In our own country we stood firm, throwing out Nixon, fighting for civil rights and justice, personal freedoms, laws and structure to protect our weakest as well as place protections to prevent the building of a labor force by empires which at every turn attempted to build slave labor.
We took responsibility for the polluting of our lakes and rivers and passed laws to protect our wildlife, lands, air and waterways.
We stood tall in the face of a corrupt Presidential administration as President Nixon resigned and many officials went to prison.
Those very baby boomers who stood in public and protested for change, fought from the university campus's, marched on Washington and used their votes to make a difference are now the old farts -the "establishment" making the changes, calling the shots, changing the laws and using their economic power to influence our policies and laws.
What the hell happened? What changed?
Somehow that sense of justice has been distorted-translated-twisted-
parodied-
To believe the US is not only above the moral laws of the world, but that we set them, to believe that we choose which humans suffer -and that the poor, the disenfranchised, the homeless. the migrant, the abused, the neglected, the elderly and the uneducated -if the cannot compete, they deserve whatever befalls them.
Oh, we don't proclaim that-we do it by ignoring the injustices, attacking the idealists and the dreamer, and creating a mindthink so similar to historical pathways that have led to the altering or downfall of powerful civilizations-it makes my heart hurt.
Our civilization is disillusioned -cynical-distrusting-
we seem to react to it by finding those even more cynical, distrusting and morally corrupt and have them speak for us.
I am afraid for us. We don't stand outraged by our own bad behavior anymore. We don't demand immediate change and accountability.
It's as if the orgy of Rome continues until it destroys itself from within-or somewhere-an outside influence will destroy what we believe in-based on our total apathetic response to the corruption, the arrogance, the ignorance and greed of our government.
Bush "thinks" about what to do in Iraq while our kids die.
This list is a mile long.
Shall I write it again?
Shall I write about high prices, huge corporate profits, the attack on our educational systems? The stagnant wage, unaffordable housing, global warming, corrupt politicians, .........huge national debt
Do we need to keep writing and speaking ?????
Does anyone else grieve as I do?
For all that we believed we could change the world by setting an example-as a free world?
