As an editor at a national newspaper, and as the Editor-In-Chief of a local newspaper, I read, daily, lots of stories that I wish I hadn’t.
As a job hazard, I read just about every Dept of State press release that comes out. And it seems as if I often read stories of American generosity stated in extremely quiet ways.
Whenever there is a disaster in the world – who do you think is one of the first countries to lend a helping hand? We are. And that American generosity and spirit is just one sign of the good values that the people of our country share.
I’ve read letters that defamed Americans in the worst possible ways. We’re all stupid cowboys (I’ve read), except for our American women (and you really don’t want to know what kinds of things are said about American women). We are supposedly a country of great evil, selfishness, and avarice.
But when your country has a disaster, who are you going to ask for help? You will turn to America, because at the core of who we are, we are a nation of people with empathy for others. AND, we don’t rub your nose in it.
It amazes me how much we are vilified. What amazes me more is why we’re supposed to be perfect. Why does everything have to be so polarized? As a nation, we make mistakes. You know as well as I do that our leaders make mistakes, our people make mistakes, our businesses make mistakes, and it may surprise some, but we are neither omnipotent nor are we all seeing. (We Americans save opinions on omniscience and omnipotence for our various religions).
Our country is giving money to other countries all the time, and we have for decades (at the very least). We help with feeding people, we help with shelters, and our soldiers also do numerous kind things for people in other countries, almost every day. And those are stories you just don’t hear enough about.
What got me started on this rant was reading all the state releases on the Pakistan/Afghanistan Flood – and there’s a lot of them. What has bothered me so much is reading interviews and calls for action and subtle comments on how the US needs to give more money and aid to help these poor people who’ve been devastated by this flood.
And although aid workers are being attacked, and although it’s very dangerous, we, along with many other amazing allies across the world are doing as much as we can to help people, many of whom don’t even like us.
This is something that we don’t say enough. No one is owed money – especially when our own country is struggling. We are happy to help, and we always seem to give whatever help we can. Our Dept of State publicizes it because they publicize every action they do (I swear that if someone submitted a press release detailing when people took bathroom breaks, I wouldn’t be in the least surprised), but I’ve noticed they publicize it as subtly as they can.
Our country is really struggling. There are so many people without jobs and there are so many people losing their homes, and struggling to feed our families. Many people believe we are on the verge of another Great Depression. You know all this – it doesn’t even need to be said.
And you know what? Americans will and are still stepping up to provide aid for Pakistan and Afghanistan, because we are a people that don’t like to see innocents, especially kids, suffering from lack of food, blankets, shelter or medications, even if they are people who don’t like us. We’re bigger than that.
Yes, we screw up! We do things people don’t like! And to be fair, that whole area, especially Afghanistan, is not one of our favorite places right now. But when push comes to shove, we’re in your corner. Because that, is what our people do, and THAT is what makes our country great.
For those that think that Americans are all good, or all bad – you need some different glasses. Hold on a sec, I bet we’ve got a US donor on the line now.
American generosity is truly, one of the most beautiful ways we show our patriotism.
I support our American donation efforts. To send in your donation for Pakistan Flood Relief, either text the word “FLOOD” to 27722 from your mobile phone to give $10 or go to the DOS website at: http://www.state.gov/ to learn more.
