America's thinking

[piercehawkeye45]

This is a rant and I didn't really know where to put it so I am leaving it here since it pertains to politics. I am sorry for the length but I needed to get this off my chest.

On 9/11/01 Al Queida attacked America by hijacking planes to destroy the Twin Towers, Pentagon, and supposedly the White House. Now, this type of attack must have taken years to plan, requiring money, men, and extreme determination to pull off. This wasn't a type of attack to say "back off" but to show their extreme anger, frustration, and hatred not towards American politicians, but American society, America as a whole. I can't imagine what it took to get a group of people to do this sort of thing, not because I don't think America did anything wrong, but how to plan an event years in advance to show their revenge and hatred for us, feelings that tend to wear off after a few weeks.

Now, after we got attacked, America as a whole announced how it was going to hunt down and kill these terrorists. We fought fire with fire; we showed the world we meant business. We traveled the world, invading countries to get rid of this threat, to promote freedom, to spread democracy. After a few months we realized how hard this campaign was going to be, that not everyone was on the "knight with shining armor's" side. We then placed all resistance in a group of evil, with bias how they hate the "free world" and want to kill all westerners.

Looking back I see how we forgot to pick up their message, the message they gave us in the same form that we gave them months later. Instead of asking ourselves what we did wrong, we quickly proclaimed that these people are impossible to negotiate with, they want nothing except for us to die. Not realizing how we are, how they must think the exact same way as us but on the other side. Instead of looking at our mistakes and seeing how we can fix them, we attacked theirs, told them they were wrong, and conform to us or else. All without realizing that America is the one who is destroying others who will not conform, who are ones who hate everyone that reject our policy, who are too stupid to realize that our violence won't change their way of life. If a guy came into my house and threatened to kill my family I would want to sit down with him and see what led him to do this, so I change, not just kill him and become paranoid of others who might do the same.

I am seeing America's downfall before my eyes. America is like a building that wants to keep on getting bigger and bigger without looking at it's base. Anyone that has ever built a toy building knows that you need to strengthen and expand the bottom every once in a while before growing to prevent the building from toppling over from underneath. We are now past the time where we need to look down at our base and expand there and not at our egos. We need to accept that others hate us, our way of living, and everything we stand for. We need to find out our faults and see if we can change them, not have everyone else change for us.

A few minutes I got a wake-up call, which led me to create this rant. The words "I don't care" stuck me like a bullet through my spine. How we didn't care the reasons for other's actions, but only see the action itself, while, in the same breath, tell others that they need to change.

I think it is time for America to step back and look at ourselves in the mirror. We are growing out of control and are doing nothing to stop it, to control it, to help the growth of others. This is one of the first times I can truly say I am ashamed of being American, ashamed of our thinking, ashamed of all our brainwashing and social training. We are looking at a downward spiral with no cure, except for the ability to open our eyes. Yes, we may have to make some sacrifices but it will be for the best in the end.

Maybe in twenty or fifty years we can look at ourselves without denial, in the eyes of not just our friends, but our enemies. "We have already lost, if we do not learn from our mistakes. We have already lost, if we do not learn to change."*


*Quote from band As I Lay Dying