Responding to Brenda's post about being or not being anti-American, Mack wrote: "I would disagree. The consistent and relentless postings here about the United States, both present and past, in the negative, I feel, are anti-american. They are most certainly not pro-american. Not supportive of the actions we are taking and, for that matter, have seen little to any support for anything that the United States has ever done. The constant barrage about what bullies we are in the world scope, our dastardly and covert behavior around the globe are most certainly anti-american sentiments. I have seen posts here that pretty much run the gamut worldwide pertaining to all the areas where the U.S. has been wrong and very little to say that we are a fine country that, regardless of the mistakes that we have made, that has done more good for this world than any country that has ever existed. I see nothing wrong with criticizing the government if we are trying to make it better and working within to do so but I see no difference between many of the attitudes expressed here and those of many people in foreign countries; and they are most clearly anti-american." Mack, you didn't mention any names in this post. You certainly didn't mention mine. However, since I wrote some of the most detailed posts about actions the U.S. has taken in the past that have been, in my opinion, questionable, I can't help but assume that your words were directed, at least in part, to me. And there are a number of ways in which I could respond. I could repeat what Brenda has already stated very eloquently: that criticizing *some* of America's actions is not anti-American, and can exemplify the best of what it means to BE an American (I paraphrase). I could react angrily, especially to your assumption that those rendering the criticism are not doing anything about making the country a better place, relating to you how I volunteered one full year of my life assisting indigent clients in a legal aid clinic as a paralegal; how I've voted, and encouraged others to vote, and written to elected officials from my congressmen and -women to the President himself, and read extensively on possible political options, and composed opinion pieces, and volunteered to do grunt work in political campaigns, and engaged in a whole gamut of other actions that I fully hoped, at the time, were helping to "make the country a better place." Or, perhaps most temptingly, I could throw my hands up in the air and stop writing at all. Instead, though, I find myself returning to criticisms of the so-called "self-esteem movement" that many, including though not limited to some prominent conservatives, leveled against the educational establishment some years ago. We're getting soft with our kids, they warned with urgency. Instead of showing them where they're going wrong when they go wrong, or showing them "tough love," or helping them to be everything they could become, we're handing them compliments and warm fuzzies that are meaningless in their vagueness, while giving them NO hint of the responsible, caring behavior they'll need to master to become fully mature adults. Exactly. My country deserves much praise. I thought I had given it that, and if that somehow didn't come through, I do so again. But at least in some instances, I won't give it warm fuzzies that it simply doesn't deserve, for behavior I firmly believe it can improve. And I find myself returning to that beautiful story about Joni and Mr. Kratzman relayed by Ashara just a few digests ago. Joni--JONI MITCHELL, as she was to become!!--received an A- on a poem, while another student was given an A+ for work that well may have been "inferior," from a purely objective standpoint. Mr. Kratzman's wise and wonderful explanation? "That was the best poem that boy will ever write," he said. The implicit message to Joni? You, with your incredible talent, can do better. And she could. And she did. My country has done some good work. It has not written its best poem yet. But it has a depth of talent and possibility the world may never have seen before. And I have every confidence that, with time, and with our patience, and yes, with deep understanding of the mishaps it has sometimes engaged in during the eventful first 225 years of its existence, it can, and it will. Mary P.
(originally composed 10/25/01 at about 11 p.m. CDT; just making it to the list now, with some minor editing, due to my technical naiveti).
