Day 334: I Think We Should Care Less

I am so overwhelmingly sick of Americans. We are an over-privileged, selfish, and self-righteous bunch who care so much about the minutia that we miss the big picture. Healthcare and finance reform, Tea baggers, religion, Obama bashing and on and on. Are these the big issues? Really? What about the world’s biggest oil spill with untold repercussions for decades to come? People in less developed nations dying from diseases for which we have cures. Starvation in the world and yet we are chronically overfed to the point that we waste food to make a point on shows like “Food Revolution.” All this and on a street in Manhattan a car bomb is discovered.

The world is in chaos as it always has been because people put their own needs first and those of their neighbors so far down the list they are almost imperceptible. In our own nation we fight so vehemently against something as silly as a political affiliation that it has led to violence. What the hell is wrong with us? Is the prospect of keeping Mexicans out (and don’t even try to tell me immigration opposition cares just as much about Canadians or Europeans) really more important than 20-year-olds being gunned down in our own poor communities?

Do we really care so much about preventing gay couples from legally joining together that we make that a major political fight over things like educational funding, community outreach, and environmental disaster relief? There’s the old adage that you should clean up your own backyard before pointing fingers, well I believe it should be just the opposite on a global scale. Our backyards look pretty good compared to the views of so many from around the world.  Yet, none of that really touches us does it? What do you care about the oil spill or people forced to live in tent cities? What’s it to you, that twelve-year-olds join gangs just for the chance at being protected and not left all alone in a dangerous world.

What happened to the outrage after the 9/11 attacks? We focused it so intently on war, that we forgot the larger issue, that there is not just one enemy. Terrorism comes from all over the world and with a dozen different motivations. The car bomb this weekend will not be the last. It is only beginning and our days of confidently going about our business, secure in the belief that war happens not on our soil is going to be forever gone. The world is changing and there is tragedy and devastation everywhere and what is our biggest concern? The next political race, the fact that our insurance might change, the possibility that our neighbors might be Mexican, or worse yet, gays!

Of course we cannot stop living our lives or completely disengage from the daily concerns we face. We do still need to have laws in place and regulate things like healthcare and finance. I am suggesting, however, that we devote even an eighth of the energy we dedicate to American Idol or Dancing with the Stars to concerns greater than our own best interests. I don’t think our lives will change drastically by showing concern for those with greater misfortunes; allowing the peaceful coexistence of immigrants or gay/lesbian/transgender individuals; or sharing our neighborhoods with those of diverse racial, cultural or religious backgrounds. Our lives will not suffer dramatic change, but we can drastically change the lives of others simply by caring less about being American and more about being humane. Get involved in the world, because like it or not, we are just another tenant, not the landlords.