I’m a Canadian in my late 20’s. Nirvana rocked my life as a teenager, 9/11 rocked my life as an adult.
I watched those planes hit and those towers fall, with a heavy heart and a troubled mind.
I’ve known about America’s flawed foreign policy for many years, as I’ve traveled around the world and was always told it was better to be a Canadian, abroad. I didn’t fully understand, but it was my seed of curiosity, leading me to consider foreign policy at a fairly young age.
I later learned that the United States was a country that felt it was the World Police, imposing their beliefs on cultures that have been in existence centuries longer than the US had been a mere idea on a map.
I watched as George W. Bush made the case for what would be called Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he claimed the right to strike as a defense of the United States itself. If it was a good enough reason to strike and to petition your people’s support, why give the false impression that it would enable freedom in Iraq? This operation continues to this very day.
When will the Iraqis be free? When will the United States be safe?
Oh, there was also this thing in Afghanistan – Operation Enduring Freedom. That one isn’t finished yet either…
…but it hasn’t been all bad, right?
The United States is a place for high hopes and big dreams. It has enabled Hollywood, big business and rock stars to gain incredible wealth and power, and to use that wealth and power to contribute back to the world, at a level that most cannot even comprehend.
In the same lifetime that some have experienced slavery and persecution, they’ve witnessed the election of a young, intelligent Black man to the position of President.
After enduring 8 years of the Bush Administration, I can’t imagine Obama doing a worse job in less than 4.
The United States is ‘the land of opportunity’. There have been so many people who’ve gained success in the USA, versus their home country, that I think it’s safe to say there is something special about it…at least that’s how it makes me feel.
Still, there isn’t a lot of high regard for the USA these days, both inside and outside its borders. Not a lot of faith in the government, not a lot of faith in each other, in ourselves even.
Many don’t have a lot of optimism left to support what the USA is doing overseas, regardless if it is helping to create a better world or not.
It’s been cool to hate the United States for a long time.
War-mongering, profiteering destroyers of the planet, some might say.
Please allow Michael Jackson to interject.
We are the world, we are the children.~ Michael Jackson
As crazy as MJ may have been, he was right.
We are one large family of humans and we inhabit the same planet called Earth.
That is all there is and all there ever was.
Right now, we’re gaining a world perspective unlike anyone in any other time period, ever. Given the incredible growth of knowledge-based technology and The Internet, it’s not surprising that this is the case.
We’re starting to see that it isn’t one country versus another; it is only us and our ability to sustain this planet we’re living on.
Does it make sense to want a country to fail more than you want your world to succeed?
We need a strong United States in the world family. One with people more enlightened than ever before, with a great leader making decisions that will benefit everyone on Earth.
The United States is a world superpower.
We need less POWER, more SUPER.
