I have to say, I have been severely disheartened by this country. Let me preface that by saying my heart goes out to those in Newtown. Now, for the harsh words.
What are we doing? Are we really so selfish? Those people are suffering, and we're making it worse. If you lost a loved one, lost a child, would you want the press watching your every move? How are you supposed to grieve properly like that? I have never lost anyone that close to me, but for other losses, I sure as heck did not want it shoved in my face every two minutes. I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to relive that with people. I wanted to stay home, and be sad. Go online, and attempt to move on. And I got that luxury. But those poor people, they don't. How can they? America is the nosiest nation. We need our story, need our gossip. We need to "sympathize," when really, we don't, we can't know what those families are going through. We just want to be able to pretend we understand. Unfortunately, there are probably a few people who can sympathize. But the brunt of our country, we can't. We live in our sheltered little bubble, insensitive to the problems of others as long as we get what we want. And what we want right now is a sensation story, that brings the world's attention to us. Nevermind that the people in the story probably wish they could crawl into a hole and make the past two weeks disappear.
I believe I have mentioned this before: America is the "fat" nation to the rest of the world. And yeah, I know I should be loyal to my country, but frankly, this is ridiculous. We are fat, we are gluttonous. We work for whatever we want, and don't care who gets in our way, and pitch a fit when we don't. Don't you see yourselves? We are a fat nation, living hand to mouth, want to want, never stopping to stretch that hand out to others, or giving. We do the small stuff, sure, but most people do it for the image, not for the good it causes. We see the Salvation Army on the streets, and maybe put in a dollar so we don't feel guilty. What happened to giving just to give? Just to help, not to look good? Roughly 240 years ago, we began the fight for our independence. We had some dignity then, fighting because we wanted freedom. We earned our help on our merit, not by money or schemes. We fought, we won, we proved we were worth it. Would anyone help us now? We help people by coming to their country and killing people. Yes, in some situations that can be viewed as necessary (I am neutral on the subject of Iraq.), but others? Not so much.
We are an interfering nation. All we want is power, and attention. America is the spoiled youngest of the world. We have forgotten what decency is. So, America, I challenge you: make a difference. In this holiday season, can you put others first? Can you put them first without needing to know every detail about them? Can you care?
