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We live in a world made so small, we often forget someone we're chatting with online might be thousands of miles away. We use phones so small we can barely see the number pads, and don't think twice about recording events broadcast off a satellite somewhere encircling the globe.
We've seen footage recorded in space, from shuttles, moon landers and a revolving space station, on its way to finished glory. We have seen people far away and near in agony, in ecstasy, in pain and in death, and we never think about the great distances we have come in all the years before the beginning of the 20th century, scientifically, philosophically, medically, and in every area across the invisible board of man's progression from ignorance to enlightenment.
But, I pause. We can say we've come far, and it is true: if Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, or any other pioneer or inventor were to time travel to this present, their minds would boggle at the tools we have to help us live.
But we haven't really come all that far. We really can't say we are better today than at any other time in the past. In fact, we are probably more barbaric, more violent, more reprehensible than some of our forefathers and fore-mothers could ever have thought possible. And what's also true, is that we have even less regard for our own people, despite the calls of jingoism that reverberate from the white house lawn.
We've put more money into Iraq than we have put into our own populace's welfare. We pretend that the homeless, the starving, the ignorant, the indigent and the dying don't exist here. We forget that the welfare of the American people is as vital as the welfare of any citizen in any other country, and we shake our heads in disbelief as the needs of those people here in the United States are put into second place or lower as rich men rule the land.
We spend way too much time and way too much money thinking and worrying about other nations in this world. It's nice to be friends with these other countries, and it's good for us to lend a hand when we can, but this regime has made every citizen in our own country a second-class human, in deference to the wheeling and dealing they are doing in those other countries, intent on sucking every element they can financially out of those other places, with the sole desire to line their own pockets with as much filthy lucre as they can.
There is no need to go back to an isolationist society, but we should--and need to--take care of ourselves before we begin to invade other countries with the pretense of seeking freedom for them. We need to keep the homeless from dying from exposure in the wintertime. We need to make sure every American gets at least one square meal a day, with the hope of making that a full three meals a day. We need to educate our children with the best teachers, the best text books, and the best spirit of learning possible. We need to fight for the jobs that companies are outsourcing to other nations, simply to take advantage of cheaper wages. We need to stop the violent behavior that plagues many of our inner cities, resulting in so many tragic deaths. We need to make changes in our society to things that are neglected, not thought of, or lead to aberrant behavior that makes life so much more intolerable. We need to worry about US. And once we take care of us, we can take our time taking care of the rest of the world.
But we can only do it for non-selfish reasons. And that's one of the problems with our country right now: we don't do selfless. And that goes down all the way down the line. Until we can clean out our own house, we will never be honestly able to lift our heads, consciences clear.
The next time I see some poor soul who is obviously down and out, the next time I see news of a murder, or the next time I read an article of those who are unemployed or of a corporation getting bailed-out by our government, I will think of how our we, as a nation, have failed the citizens of this country, and have betrayed their trust. And realize that so few in government really give a shit about these things, and so few are really the statesmen--or women--that our history should expect. Robber barons have far more scruples than many who are elected into our government, and we can hope for nothing better if we keep our mouths shut and let the pillaging and lies continue.
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