When people pose the (rhetorical or not) question – ‘Why do they hate us’, the answer lies within the question itself. One simple answer as to why they hate us is because so many of us (Americans) don’t know why they could possibly hate us.
This is unfortunate. Hatred is wrong. Hating another for reasons of jealousy, pride, differing beliefs, or other irrationally egotistical rationales goes against the grain of intelligence. When people hide behind their ‘God’ to justify hatred and violence, that is even worse. The God I believe in does NOT preach violence. (He also isn’t short on cash, either, but that’s a rant for another day.) Any real God, if there is one, would be disgusted by any nation spreading hatred and justifying killing in his/her name.
This editorial does not justify any violence. It does not support any people who choose to attack innocent people in the name of religion, in the name of anything. It is wrong. Always. But this editorial will offer a no holds barred explanation of why I believe ‘they’ hate us. Again, I do not support the anti-American movements. I love America, and am truly proud, and lucky, to be an American.
That said, they hate us because some of us think there is nothing wrong with how some of us live our lives. For most of us, we are doing nothing wrong. We spread love, we teach respect, we live honestly. We do what we can to not only make our lives better, but to make the lives of others better. We think globally and act locally. We do not preach hate or fear or irrationality. We do not judge a man based on his trivialities. We judge him based on his actions.
However, there are some Americans, good-hearted Americans, honest Americans, decent red, white and blue Americans who just don’t understand how anybody could disapprove of how some of us live. We live in one of the greatest nations on Earth; as far as freedoms are concerned. We can think, say, and believe whatever we want without the fear of consequences. This is a great thing. It is what our country, my country, was founded on.
Some people, though, place the rights of the individual, mainly themselves, above what is right, wrong, and good in nature. We live in a global world, not an America-only world. We need to think on a global level if we are to survive on a local level. We cannot allow the injustices of those who hate to spread. We also cannot be the police squad to the world. It is a very thin line between doing right and overstepping our boundaries.
It is also a sin when you look at the excesses that so few of us possess. The gap between the haves and the have nots is wider that the Grand Canyon. This is injustice on an epic level. We are guilty of committing this crime every day. We reward criminals. We give them $100 million dollar football contracts. We give them hundreds of millions of dollars in severance packages after they are done robbing our innocent senior citizens of their retirement. We destroy the land that we possess. We bow down to the almighty dollar. The top 1% see nothing wrong with this. They do not understand that they are to blame.
We live in a nation where we have (approximately) 10% unemployment but we also have a television show (Pawn 90210) that shows a man walk into a Beverly Hills pawn shop and buy a near $50,000 necklace…for his dog! He proudly proclaims, “can’t have enough Gucci for the poochie.” Didn’t this man see Schindler’s List (“This pin? Two people. This is gold. Two more people.”) How many people could he have helped with that $50,000?
Some of us live as if we are under a dome of individuality. Some of us do not understand that our actions – our selfish, greedy, consumeristic thoughts and actions, are wrong. Sorry, pal. You can have enough Gucci for your poochie. Any Gucci is too much for man’s best fashion statement/status symbol/former best friend. Give that truest-definition-of-the-words ‘disposable income’ to a homeless shelter, a food bank, a family without electric. I bet your dog would thank you if it could.
So, when we wonder why they hate us, we should look at what the rest of the world sees when they turn on their televisions, their computers, their newspapers. We, America, the wonderful nation that we are, need to lead by example. We need to show the rest of the world, including those who hate us, that we can first take care of all of our own and not just the top 1% of our own. We shouldn’t mock those who have less than us. We shouldn’t blame the victims of a corrupt system. We shouldn’t let them fend for themselves. We need to be the beacon of power that shines on all. Not just on Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Wall Street.
We need to be more humble. We need to be more compassionate. We need to be more understanding. We shouldn’t be so aloof to the problems of the rest of the world. We need to understand that we are not the only people on Earth and just because we believe something doesn’t mean that the rest of the world should. We are a world built on differences. We, no, everybody in every nation needs to understand that. We need to live, love, and grow in change. And we need to act accordingly, every day, not just when it is convenient or when the television cameras are filming us.
Then, and only then, will they stop hating us. Hopefully, because I love America. I love it here.
God Bless the World.