So there I was...: Land of the free, home of the dead

So there I was...: Land of the free, home of the dead: I’m not sure what I want to write about but I know that my entire being is in a state of overflowing thoughts and concerns. I looked at a ...

Land of the free, home of the dead

I’m not sure what I want to write about but I know that my entire being is in a state of overflowing thoughts and concerns. I looked at a neighborhood here in Lexington that is on the Reservoir. Even considering buying a townhome to call mine permanently. There is something so off putting about the idea of permanence these days. The country that I have grown up in, that has given me freedoms that millions of people can only imagine and enough of everything- food, water, clothing, TV networks and blockbuster movies. A country that in its short life span has risen to the status of world Super Power.

But does being a Super Power mean that those powers are used for good? For me, history class taught me that our military skills helped saved millions of people in World War 2. I didn’t learn much about Vietnam, or Desert Storm for that matter. The bulk of history I’ve learned after high school has come from TV. A very biased and censored information source.

Does the winning team admit to cheating? Do the good guys ever do the deeds of the bad guys? Do human beings naturally feel compelled to admit when they are wrong? Are we so gullible as to believe that our status as the USA in this world is one of a humble, do-gooder that goes out to seek and serve justice in areas where no qualified judge and jury exists? Are we brain washed throughout our primary education to believe that we are the best country in the world and taught only the evidence that supports that instead of the reality that exists?

And yet we condemn every country in the world that does the same thing. People say Muslims are brain washing their children to hate America and to champion their own country and beliefs. Why do Muslims teach their children these beliefs? Is it justification of the oppression that gets dispersed throughout their countries? Do the governments of Muslim nations weave dark, evil stories of the ‘West’ in order to rally support for defending their nations and engaging in wars that only suit their interests?

Does the average US citizen realize the view outside, looking in to this country is not pretty? The horror of children killed in accidental shootings because of the negligence of their parents? The laughable waste of resources in our very own country full of hungry, even homeless men, women and children. The excesses that we can’t live without and the hours of vacation we will never take because our material lives matter more than any other part of our lives. A country with no moral priority and little encouragement that anyone, anywhere is going to stand up and demand that as a citizen of this great country we should at the minimum hold some inalienable truths to be MORE than self-evident. That we the people should give a good God damn whether or not we are living the values and the beliefs of a good and honorable nation. As the rest of the world looks at the race for the most powerful position in the world, two people brought up and put on pedestals; as the best that we have to offer to be the beacon of beliefs for all that we stand for and hope for, for our country. The world is left dumbstruck as to what has happened to allow such a mockery and reality TV show cringe worthy excuse for a Presidential election. Where is dignity? Where is diplomacy and concern for the citizens of this country? Where is the simple element of proper manners and class, honor and respect for this position of power? It simply has been beaten out of priority.

We live in a country that has 6 story high billboards of women in underwear but doesn’t want to be so put out as to see a woman breast feeding in public. We watch shows of death and violence, sex and power and allow this filth in our homes where children are being raised to be upstanding citizens.  Only to scratch our heads when teenagers shoot up schools. The uneducated arrogance that gets to root for their race over all others, and has the audacity to actually believe, through and through, that because there is a difference that must mean one has to be better than the other. The mean spirited rivalries in sports. Teaching our children that loyalty is better than grace.

Looking through the eagle eye view at the country we live in, the world sees injustice, inequality, corruption, oppression, addiction and citizens who aren’t even batting an eye at it. The world looks into this Christian nation and laughs at what a mockery we are next to people who live good, humble and noble lives without a single belief in a higher being. The Christian Nation who has done so much less for their own, then what non-Christian nations have done for others. Walking out of million dollar churches, many parishioners drive past the slums, the ghettos, and the homeless. Making sure their car door is locked. Those who live with more than just thoughts of themselves; those who are kind, caring and not afraid to help others. This is what we should be standing for. Those who don’t act on the basis of some ulterior motive. Children, at a young age when they have not yet been initiated into the American mindset, are like this. People who have a passion for something, anything and putting it to good use, this is what we need more of in our neighborhoods, communities and towns.

People like my mother, who opened an entire recycling center in the late 90’s when only a few dumpsters would have done the job.

People like the teenagers that formed a cheering section for the juvenile detention center basketball team, because no one was there to cheer them on when local high school teams came to play them.

People like the numerous young entrepreneurs under the age of 12 that have seen a need in their schools for children who didn’t have lunch money or went hungry over the weekend. Children taking action to do for others because there was no reason not to.

Imagine your city, your street if you knew more people on a personal level. Celebrating life’s great events. Like my sister Carrie who put together a party at the local park, paying for the band and bringing people together for the experience of community. If community meant more than the fancy name of some subdivision in some cookie cutter suburb that can be found in every state of this country, then imagine who we might have running for President instead.

There is a great war going on, although here in the US we are lead to believe that we are sending our military troops in to do the right thing, the best thing for the citizens of war torn countries. That the leaders of our country are fighting the good fight. Countries being terrorized by the very rebels we armed when we needed them. The US has currently built up military fronts on the western border of Russia, with more troops than what was at the height of the cold war. The US has stock piled more and more nuclear weapons than any other time in the history as a country. The US Military has trained with Australia ways to block China from getting through to the Middle East for reasons we are not quite privy to. We killed millions in Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and who knows where else over the last 10-15 years, but most of us don’t know anything about that. Most don’t know that we’ve sold weapons to rebels, countries and military groups that are engaged in genocide, war crimes and worse. A lot of Americans can’t understand why so many foreign countries look down on us in disdain. We the people are the bullies of the world. We have our freedoms and insist that everyone else have our same governmental ideology. No one else in this world has the right to be anything but like the American way. A homogenous world of American democracy looks a lot like a dictatorship. Comply or die.

We have been living in beautiful ignorance for far too long. My mind churns out ideas for change. My heart hopes for de-escalation of the war stances that the US and Russia have taken. I think of my niece and nephew, playing in my parent’s pool. Swimming and laughing because they don’t have a care in the world. Going to sleep in beds that are in houses on quiet streets. And just as I get to that sweet image, I have flashes of Trey covered in the dust of a bombed out city. Running over rubble, with thundering sounds of bombs and guns. How can I protect him? How can we protect our children, our families from the inescapable judgment the world wishes to unleash on us, for the doings of our government leaders. The nations’ citizens will be judged for the crimes of their leaders.

This terrifies me, for our leaders have a long, bloody atrocious list of crimes.

May peace find you and may you share it with the people you meet.