The ugly American
Have you been reading the news lately? Every time I turn the page I read a new article about some poor schmuck who's accused of breaking some stupid law and ends up on prison. In fact, reading from the mainstream outlets could easily lead one to believe that the opinion of the rest of the world about Americans is true, we really are a bunch of bully's and petty crooks.
In order to find the good news, you have to look deep into the paper and ignore the headlines. Last year a high school championship wrestler from Nebraska who was vying for the title of state champoin heard a story that touched his heart. There was a wrestler from another district who suffered from down's syndrome. This boys only wish was to wrestle in a match like all the other boys, but no one was willing to thinking he was an unworthy adversary. He practiced all year. He suffered in training as his withered body wasn't capable of competing with all the other "normal" kids. But he didn't give up. He trained and trained, and when it seemed he coulde'nt go further he pulled a little more strength from down deep and kept going.
The champoinship wrestler offered to wrestle this boy in a title match. Winning he would maintain his perfect record, and his challenger was hardly a worthy opponent.
Everyone expected that the champion would allow the other boy to wrestle for a few moments and then pin him ending the match and preserving his perfect record. Nobody expected what happened next. The champion wrestled with the boy and allowed him to show the skill he had trained for the whole year. For three rounds they went. At the end the challenger was spent, his head held low, but the champoin had one last act of kindness to give, he allowed the challenger to pin him winning the match. His perfect record was broken, and yet he held his head high and gripped the other boy as a brother. The audience was stunned. The champion had given up his shot at fame by giving it to the other boy. When asked why, he humbly said "he deserved to win." Ugly American, huh?
A gentleman from Dallas Texas heard of an infant in Indonesia that was terminally ill with a disease that could only be cured with an organ transplant. So this nobody sold his home and flew to Indonesia and donated one of his kidneys to a child he had never met, at his own expense. He even paid for the childs medical care and provided a home for his family. When asked why he simply said "it was the right thing to do." Another ugly American.
In Bagndad an American soldier used his own body to protect a wounded mother and child from sniper fire, dying in the process. In Kabul a Marine gave his own life to save an ambulance full with wounded enemy soldiers. In the mountains of Afganistan Special Forces soldiers walked for 3 days without food and little water to bring a desperately ill village child to medical care. More ugly Americans?
Whenever there are catastropies, you will find Americans giving succor to the injured. Whenever there is war, you will find Americans giving relief to refugees. No other nation or people in the history of the world have shown the kindness not only to strangers but to former enemies than Americans. Are they ugly Americans? No. That is what the rest of the world calls us to detract from their own apathy towards human suffering. Don't believe it for a second. We are the greatest nation that has ever been. Not because of our armies, or our industry, or even our political system. America is great, because Americans are good.
Ill take an ugly American over a "morally superior" Frenchman any day of the week.
In order to find the good news, you have to look deep into the paper and ignore the headlines. Last year a high school championship wrestler from Nebraska who was vying for the title of state champoin heard a story that touched his heart. There was a wrestler from another district who suffered from down's syndrome. This boys only wish was to wrestle in a match like all the other boys, but no one was willing to thinking he was an unworthy adversary. He practiced all year. He suffered in training as his withered body wasn't capable of competing with all the other "normal" kids. But he didn't give up. He trained and trained, and when it seemed he coulde'nt go further he pulled a little more strength from down deep and kept going.
The champoinship wrestler offered to wrestle this boy in a title match. Winning he would maintain his perfect record, and his challenger was hardly a worthy opponent.
Everyone expected that the champion would allow the other boy to wrestle for a few moments and then pin him ending the match and preserving his perfect record. Nobody expected what happened next. The champion wrestled with the boy and allowed him to show the skill he had trained for the whole year. For three rounds they went. At the end the challenger was spent, his head held low, but the champoin had one last act of kindness to give, he allowed the challenger to pin him winning the match. His perfect record was broken, and yet he held his head high and gripped the other boy as a brother. The audience was stunned. The champion had given up his shot at fame by giving it to the other boy. When asked why, he humbly said "he deserved to win." Ugly American, huh?
A gentleman from Dallas Texas heard of an infant in Indonesia that was terminally ill with a disease that could only be cured with an organ transplant. So this nobody sold his home and flew to Indonesia and donated one of his kidneys to a child he had never met, at his own expense. He even paid for the childs medical care and provided a home for his family. When asked why he simply said "it was the right thing to do." Another ugly American.
In Bagndad an American soldier used his own body to protect a wounded mother and child from sniper fire, dying in the process. In Kabul a Marine gave his own life to save an ambulance full with wounded enemy soldiers. In the mountains of Afganistan Special Forces soldiers walked for 3 days without food and little water to bring a desperately ill village child to medical care. More ugly Americans?
Whenever there are catastropies, you will find Americans giving succor to the injured. Whenever there is war, you will find Americans giving relief to refugees. No other nation or people in the history of the world have shown the kindness not only to strangers but to former enemies than Americans. Are they ugly Americans? No. That is what the rest of the world calls us to detract from their own apathy towards human suffering. Don't believe it for a second. We are the greatest nation that has ever been. Not because of our armies, or our industry, or even our political system. America is great, because Americans are good.
Ill take an ugly American over a "morally superior" Frenchman any day of the week.
posted by Medula Oblongata at 10:43 AM
1 Comments:
When I was younger, we we told that
as Americans, we were the ambassadors of our country, that
"foreigners" may never meet another American in thier whole life, and we had one chance to make a good impression. Well,
we found out if you treat folks as equals, not looking at the differences between races, religions, financial or social standing, you open the doors of communication. We are all equal
in the eyes of all our higher powers. It does not matter if we
are Catholic, Muslim, Wiccan or pagan or even atheist. Salvaging the reputation of our great country
is each and every one's responsibility. We are not the
sum of our politicians, even tho thay are the ones that are heard on a regular basis. We are the
solution, we can each make a difference. We are each and every one an ambassador of the U.S. and
we need to make a good impression
on the rest of the planet.
Post a Comment
<< Home