‘we’re one
but we’re not the same
will we hurt each other
then we do it again’ – one – U2
one.
at a large public gathering in a nearby lakeshore town, a woman was speaking about her trips to Honduras, working with young girls at what i presume to be an orphanage there. In order to illustrate the good works her and her teams have done over the years, she decided it would add value to her speech to bring a young Honduran girl, probably 16-17 years old, up with her in front of the crowd of hundreds.
yes we do have our way of doing things here that works for us. bringing someone out of their culture, teaching them another culture and then transplanting them back to their native culture is completely counter-productive. besides appearing arrogant about her own good deeds, it is so sad that this view is shared by so many Americans. (the Iraq War for example) we try so hard to spread our ideals around the world that we neglect the simplest of factors = our culture is not THEIR culture. we push our hopes, our dreams, our expectations to other regions of the world where the mindset, the desires are much different from our own. even our religion is different, with our own American spin.
the message here is that despite our successes (and failures), as Americans it is not our duty to American-ize the world. it is not our right to decide what faith, government, ideals others around the world should believe in. What we have here works, it does not mean it should work globally. yes, peace and prosperity should abound for everyone, but who decides how that should be applied? do we get to bring people out of their state of culture to teach them that we do it better than they do? I love the United States of America, but we are off base if we think that we have the right and obligation to ensure that everyone does as we do. at least… according to me…
since 1998. we have withstood:
we have experienced a great deal of crisis in a relatively short amount of time. it has become a chaotic world. what do we do with it?? what is our relief? it appears that our way of thinking has become corrupted. by what? media. hollywood. ourselves.
we have been inundated by technology. we have succumbed to the power of “others”– meaning– we have come to expect “others” to take the fall, to be responsible, while accepting less and less responsibilities for our own actions. we blame government. we say it’s all their fault. we form activist groups bordering on hate because we hate that we think the “others” hate us.
when we decide that enough is enough, it is NOT that we say enough of what THEY do is enough. it is what WE do. it is enough of our own action.
we have witnessed a lot. more than we should in a lifetime, let alone a decade. but blame does not heal us. it does not repair wounds. once we are able to let go of our own hate, our own selfish pride, our own undignified reactions — then we can try to fix the world.
until then. look inside.
and why Lindsey Lohan is embarrassment to our society. and why sitting in the local pub with friends debating pop culture for hours is one of my favorite things to do. so yea… specifically only about everything going on in society.
The world NEEDS another blogger! yes yes yes!!! Obviously, otherwise I wouldn’t want my voice heard!!! People everywhere have been begging and pleading for another useless, trivial opinion about things that don’t matter and since I am sooooo good at talking about things that have no relevance… why not add my name to the list… so… here I am…
Who am i? James. I like sports. and music. and simple things like sitting on my porch and watching cars drive by. (and if you saw the road I live on, you would know that the same seven (7) cars drive by all day… not exactly a bustling metropolis is Byron Center). I am obsessed with social media… facebook and twitter have gotten the best of me … and for some strange reason I love politics (though when people say “i hate politics!” i pretend to agree).
you can find me on facebook @ http://www.facebook.com/thejamesaarongilmore and twitter @ http://www.twittter.com/TheJayGil77
so until next time… this is my blog. it’s
My.Thoughts.Exactly.