East/West, human values and a glass whether full or not

[Guest guest]

Dear Ashutosh, Naresh Desai, and, er, Sz...

 

I remember reading in the paper of the floods in India

and I don't remember any talk about looting. Frankly,

I think that's commendable and speaks very well of the

Indian people under stress. Sadly, though, the US

press (granted, not a reliable source) is constantly

reporting incidents of daily life in India (usually

having to do with the treatment of women in poor

areas) that seem rather lacking in basic human values.

I think that we ALL have a long way to go in improving

human values. We just may do it in different ways and

under different circumstances.

 

As cultures we are so different, all over the world

(and right here on this list!), when it comes to how

we think and how we value and how we live day to day.

But as people, I think we are exactly the same. We

each judge each other in the same way.

 

At the beginning of the "War against Iraq", Baghdad

was without water, electricity, etc. The US Press

emphasized the looting going on, and many people here

saw that as a sign of the state of the entire Iraqi

culture. Well, time to take our own lumps. We can't

say 'they are bad' when they do it and 'it should be

overlooked' when we do. The Other Guy's Glass is

always half empty, and Ours is always half full. The

only thing that changes is who classifies themselves

as "Ours" - and that doesn't change because Everyone

classifies themselves as the good guys.

 

No, Naresh, a majority of the world would Not love to

live here. The majority prefers their own homeland.

The people who leave their land and come to the US

only do so out of the desire to acquire some money

(because they have little of it). Every single

immigrant whom I've asked, has stated that they'd go

back home in an instant if they could afford it(there

are, of course, exceptions). They don't like our

lifestyle or our way of thinking - not because it is

bad per se, but because they know and value something

different. And they all think their way is the best.

They may say that the US is great, but I'll bet that's

mostly because we beat up on anyone who says

different. Ah, free speech.

 

Every culture has something they verbalize as their

best feature (close family ties, freedom, etc) and

unbeknownst to them, they DO the opposite. We are

actually one of the less free countries in the world.

Yes, we are more free than people were during the

reign of the Camer Rouge (sp?) which is always a

favorite of ours to compare with as is Nazi Germany -

but ANYWHERE in the world is more free than that.

 

We will never change our faults if we overlook them

and label others who point these faults out as being

envious. It's always easy to count how many times we

have to put up with the faults of others while

thinking they never have to put up with our own,

seeing as we don't have any.

 

As a list, we are a microcosm of the world and look

how often we dissolve into mud-slinging and

hair-pulling. [My hands being just as full of mud and

hair as anyone else's.]

 

Maybe we can give each other a break, and as Juliana

said (paraphrasing), send each other some love, cause

boy do we need it.

 

Love to all,

The Pot who calls the Kettle black