I heard this on the radio US Embassy hit in Athens and I got concerned. A few years ago I spent about a month in Greece traveling through the country. I loved it, the country was beautiful, they were so proud of who they are and where they came from. So when I hear news like this it makes me wonder, why do people hate us so much?
I remember as a wee one watching the news and seeing effigies of the president and the American flag being burned and the news report relaying the words "Death to America" as the flag melted into a pile of ash. I remember thinking, in my little mind, why do they hate me? What did I do to them? I could not grasp the concept.
Then as I got older, I began to travel outside the U. S and I saw what wonders are in the world. I appreciated the siesta in Spain, the pub experience in England, Scotland, and Ireland, the call for prayer in Jordan all were so beautiful in their own way. Then I saw the golden arches peeking out next to that old 15 century pub in London and the famous shopping area in Paris and the quiet square in Madrid and near the old city gates in Jerusalem and the shopping center in Bogota. I understood and I saw more brands popping up all over the place. With brands come brand culture, stigma and money. So these brands were undercutting local culture and identity. How can a Greek taverna next to an ancient site survive when American tourists flock to have a burger? It was becoming clear to me....we were taking their identity away.
Globalization is such a double edged sword and the arguments could be debated for a long long time.
Granted, I know that most of it has to do with the politics and more importantly our "figurehead". His policies (and I do mean His as a majority of Americans don't agree with him) have made the idea of America hated around the world. Many of our fellow humans around the world resent who we are and what we have done to them and I know. When the Democrats lost the 2006 Presidential election, I got an email from a friend in London asking me how I could let that happen? He wanted to know why I did not get him ousted from his position. I did not know what to say, what could I have said? I tried, we all did.
I was in NYC on that fateful day, I saw things that still make me shutter and cry. To this day I have a mild case of PTSD when I hear sirens hit a certain pitch. I can't look at pictures or news about that day. I know what hate can do and I know how hate can cause massive suffering. I can understand why hate begets hate and why there is that need of retaliation.
But at the same time, I can not. How does the cycle stop? How can it end peacefully. How can we prove in the eyes of the world that we feel pain and we suffer too?
To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else,it will feed my revenge.
He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million;
laughed at my losses,
mocked at my gains,
scorned my nation,
thwarted my bargains,
cooled my friends,
heated mine enemies; and what's his reason?
I am a Jew.
Hathnot a Jew eyes?
hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
fed with the same food,
hurt with the same weapons,
subject to the same diseases,
healed by the same means,
warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is?
If you prick us, do we not bleed?
if you tickle us, do we not laugh?
if you poison us, do we not die?
and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?
If we are like you in the rest,
we will resemble you in that.
If a Jew wrong a Christian,what is his humility?
Revenge.
If a Christian wrong a Jew,
what should his sufferance be by Christian example?
Why, revenge. The villany you teach me, I will execute,
and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.
~The Merchant of Venice~
~William Shakespeare
No comments:
Post a Comment