colector: [JournalWriting] Re:Share an Entry Sunday

--- In JournalWriting@yahoogroups.com, Pamela <paschulea@...> wrote:
> I'm now planning an art piece that will demonstrate how ironic
> this saying is in our world. As an American - I think I am part
> of a huge number of people, who read the paper, listen to the news
> and are numbed by tragedies around the world and in our
> own neighborhoods -
> the stamp reads .... and they lived happily ever after.

First, I'm going to apologize for this, Pamela, as this is NOT
an attack on you, I swear, as this is
probably going to sound POed and itching for an argument but
I can't sit quiet about it anymore...

About "the world" vs. "America"...

Celebrities, being under the spotlight... everything they do, say,
wear, and eat even is under scrutiny. A kid I know the down the
street od's on prescription pills and alcohol and he barely
gets a line in the local newspaper. Heath Ledger does it on the
other hand and there are memorials all over the world. One day
Scarlett Johansson is one of the year's sexiest women... then
one afternoon she decides to take a stroll in a most unflattering
outfit and suddenly she's dropped from the IT list.

Can anyone honestly say that the United States isn't under a
similar magnifying glass?

People rag on the US and industrialized nations for pollution...
did you know in many cities in China, most days you can't
even see the sun? I mean a perfectly "cloudless" day. Because the
air pollution is so thick sunlight can barely get through.
In its WORST days, Los Angeles was nothing in comparison.
Did you know they spray water on the trees in the cities and
the streets? To keep the soot/dust under control. Did you know
after walking an hour or two outside a film builds up on your skin?
WHAT do you think THEIR government is doing about it?

Corruption, crime, etc are just as or more rampant in other
countries around the world... but we don't hear about how
incompetent they are, do we?
We only hear about how they're all suffering and why aren't
we there to help. WHY is the US alone responsible for that?
Why is it OUR FAULT if nothing gets done? Is it so much to
assume that the people within those borders HAVE brains? Doesn't
the rest of the world get news? Don't they have tv's/internet?
Well, hell, they keep saying the EURO is worth
higher and higher than the dollar, I don't hear about the
French people going out of their way to organize relief help.
In fact the most I hear from them is WHAT'S GOING ON IN
HOLLYWOOD NOW?

I keep reading about people complaining how there's so much
suffering going on in the world and how America is numbed to it all.
America? I think we're all too well aware of what's going on
out there... we're constantly reminded of it. My question is
where is the REST of the world??? And what would happen if
the US wasn't here? Oh, good God, they'd all have to figure
it out and fend for themselves.

Folks at Burning Man should save the money spent getting
there and give it to a local charity they believe in and the time
they spend there better spent volunteering at shelters and
relief organizations.. or if they're REALLY concerned about
helping out in the world then go fly OUT THERE and do something.

Like TEACH those people to use the hands, feet and brains
God gave them to make a change in their own countries.
Seriously... was there a UN when the US was fighting the
British for it's independence?

I'm not saying we shouldn't help when we can. But to put the
blame entirely on the US (whether that blame comes from
the public or another country's public) is being just irresponsible
and frankly, reveling in its own incompetence.

> Isn't that an American Dream (as in fallacy)--
> that no matter what happens, there is always a happy ending?

I don't think believing in a happy ending is bad. There's
always the possibility. I believe something positive, even a
tiny bit of good, can come out. It's called Hope.

I also believe that you make your own happy ending.
And THAT is what America, to me anyway, really means.
What many people today have lost sight of.

And I AM an American.

Mary, CT