No culture wants to give up or even bend on its uniqueness in the world, and most feel that by agreeing to make changes that would bring themselves inline with beliefs of other cultures that they would somehow be saying that they were wrong.
When I write here I sometimes have a thought or opinion that I attempt to prove. Sometimes I am wrong. Sometimes I am correct but my way of getting to the answer is not the best way. It’s really a pain to delete my thoughts. Stubbornly I will attempt to rationalize them, but in the end I have to realize that if I knowingly do it wrong for no other reason than laziness then I am wrong. I am trying to be honest with myself, so going along that route is not very smart.
To say that re-forming the American Government would be “inconvenient” is an understatement. It’s unfair to compare the work and blood that has gone into its creation to my random key hits I call writings. However that does not make it any less needed. I want to get something straight. I love my country, but that love does not blind me to some problems.
It’s a sad fact that beautiful, intelligent, and loving children sometimes grow up to be self-righteous killers. Can the same be said about societies? Our options are limited when it comes to “curing” people, but how do you “cure” a society?
It is the curse of our Empire as it was in Empires’ past, to outreach our ability to maintain control. Yet we spread. In my heart I believe that “democracy” is the best and fairest way for us to govern ourselves, but is what we have a democracy? As usual I am going to say our definitions have outgrown our use of the words.
I am not saying that I know how to fix it. What I am saying is that like so many problems I have discovered within myself I can not simply say that because it would cause too much change in my life and heartbreak for others that I should overlook it. I know I kept abusively drinking for a long time because I was more concerned that others would judge me poorly if I admitted that I had a problem.
Because I know my friends will warn me and look at me weird I think now is a great time to say AGAIN that I love my country, and I love and respect the people in it. I do not advocate violence or hatred in any way. I call for nothing that involves the fears or actions of our forefathers but instead I call for a quiet patience and tolerance.
I hope with all of my heart that I will be able to teach patience to my children. I know that the changes in the last 10-15-20 years have been insane. I know that as the world changes our comprehension of it has to change, and I know that this change is confusing and frustrating. I know that the people in charge have to make insane decisions everyday and it can only be compounded by the chaos of world changes and world opinion. I know that we no longer feel fear from the tip of a spear, but now we balance lightly on the atom. How many societies throughout time have fallen to just a spear? How long can we expect to last?
I try to remember that no matter what I DO SEE, there is always something that I can not see. There is something that is beyond my understanding. I don't know, or understand how we have survived this long, but the “fact” is that we have survived. I like to think that the explanation for our existence goes beyond random luck, and I refuse to believe that mankind, when left to ourselves is capable of not burning down the house.
I read and watch as people advocate the need to “cut out the cancer” that they feel is making us as a people sick. There is always some cancer somewhere and there is always someone willing to do the cutting. I am more for a holistic approach. I honestly do believe that patience, tolerance and understanding are the only things needed to cure this problem. I admit freely however that I had to go to war to learn that. Quite frankly if we as a people, as a nation, as a species, can not learn to say “you might be right”, or at the very least “I might be wrong”, and mean it, then not only will we never be able to make our heaven on earth, but we will never deserve a heaven anywhere else.
Our government will not reform. No country’s government can. Only “we the people” have that power here. If we change ourselves then our children will change. We can not tell them lies in an effort to cover our mistakes, but should freely admit where we were wrong. They will respect us and trust us more if we do. I think our children would listen to us more if we had something worth listening too to tell them.
Virtually every definition of the word “miracle” concerns God or a higher power controlling our existence. My faithless religion will not allow me to use that word in that context so I have to say: All things considered it’s a “wonder” that we are still here.
