"... I don't think there is a country on earth..." is typical attitude response from present day American, and should be totally unacceptable for Americans of the future. It should be reminded over and over again that the United States is not just another country on earth, but is the leader of the world at the beginning of the 21st century and responsibility goes along with that leadership. This is a rephrase of Ike's post on the world as one nation. A nation needs good leadership, or otherwise it will exist in chaos. I need to stress this point and cry loudly that United States should be that leader in this century and beyond. The first responsibility is to raise the American people's level of consciousness (awareness) of the world, and we need to be exemplary citizens rather that just another typical any other country person on earth.
That said, this is a call for the future of the United States and to elevate Americans' level of illiteracy or consciousness.
What happened in Greensboro NC is more serious than most of us can imagine. It is an attack on a human being at personal, not nationalism nor religious level. It is unconscious animalistic level to deprive and threaten the freedom of another human being, just as the Taleban authoritarian government has imposed on Afghans. What should be very disturbing is when it can take place during reasonably good economic condition in the US. I cannot imagine how much of that anti-ethnic fervor would take place if the economy condition were much worse than it is now.
Most present day Americans consider the Greensboro incident lightly, and would prefer to keep the incident under cover. Such describes the unconscious level of present day Americans.
The progress and achievements in the 20th century cannot be abandoned and should not end there, just as technology will not end here. We, Americans cannot stop here. Fruits from advancement of science and technology will require parallel progress society. This is a novel and very difficult concept to comprehend and is not quite obvious yet, and therefore I will not elaborate. Most of us are not ready for this responsibility and it would be a shock, just as many of our grandparents and great-grandparents would be turning in their graves if they were to know the progress achieved in the 20th century.
One last statement to reinforce the concepts presented today. For certain and without any doubt, before October 1 (yes, even after Sep 11) 95% of Americans do not know what or where of Kandahar, Islamabad, Herat, Lahore, Jalalabad, Turkmenstan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang Uygur or Tajikistan. Even now, only 70% know them. Maybe 10-15% know where is Karachi and most of them think it is the capital city of Pakistan. Most Americans questioned what's there in Afghanistan? There are oil and natural gas and gem stones in Afghanistan.
Let's hope American children will learn and appreciate more about world's cultural diversity, and learn it before they are ingrained with that the only cultures in the world are the Las Vegas and McDonald cultures. |
