At the ripe old age of 22, I have been fortunate enough to have seen a good portion of the world in my short life. Immediately after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill this past May, I took a job with a company that requires me to be out of the United States about 250 days a year. In the 9 months that I've been doing this job, I've been to 37 countries on 6 continents - from China to Columbia, Russia to South Africa. One of the best parts of this job is that I have gotten to experience life in so many different places, and more importantly, I have gotten to meet so many diverse and wonderful people. Throughout all of this, I have learned a great day not only about myself, but about my country, and our place in the world.
More, below the fold...
One of the biggest misconceptions of so many Americans, especially those who vote Republican, is that the United States was the first country to experience horrific terrorism, has the largest problem with terrorism, and therefore is permitted to do anything in order to prevent said terrorism. Trust me - Israel, India, Russia, Spain, and scores of other countries have a little something to say about that. I was in Jordan when the Amman bombings occurred a few months ago, and I was in India when bombs exploded in Varanasi a few weeks ago. Many, many countries have terrorism. We are not the first, last, or only one. If every country that was ever attacked by terrorists went about invading, the world would be in a perpetual state of global war. The rest of the world understands this. I've found that while the world is generally outraged by the United States' actions in response to 9/11, it is equally outraged by our arrogance in acting as if our dead are more important than the dead of other nations. An American life is just as valuable as a Jordanian life, a Spanish life, or an Indian life. But we don't see these countries gallavanting about, invading whomever, under the belief that their dead somehow count more, and therefore they should be allowed to act in ways they forbid others to. This attitude, that the U.S. operates under a double standard, is so widespread that I'm stunned this doesn't come up more frequently in the United States.
Another disturbing thing that I've found is that while many people around the world think that Bush is incompetent, corrupt, and altogether abhorrent, they generally discount this as just a typical characteristic of a world leader. This is perhaps the most frightening thing I've encountered. Why is incompetence acceptable? What does it say about world politics that corruption is par for the course? Shouldn't the "greatest democracy in the world" be held to higher standards?
The world overwelmingly sees the war in Iraq for what it is: a war for Oil. This is so widely believed that it is reported as fact in places like Russia, India, and China. The United States criticizes the inability of the people in countries like North Korea for not questioning their government, while we Americans still shut our eyes to the truths about our own leadership. What does this say about us?
Despite all of this however, in my experience, the world still sees the American people as generous, friendly, warm, and caring. I still feel pride when I tell people I am an American citizen. I am not embarrassed, because I know that people still see the difference between me and our President.
Throughout everything, though, I've learned the battles of today in the United States are in many ways the battles of yesterday in the rest of the world. We are just now catching up to the terrorist problem that has been plaguing the rest of the world for decades. We are just now learning that we can not always trust our leaders. We are just now learning that people do not always have an honest, altruistic motive in mind. Hopefully, before it's too late, we will wake up to the reality of the way the world. I have hope, because like the people in every country I've met, I believe in the American people. I just hope that we right ship before the American people don't have any say anymore.