Daybreak at Peaceful Forest this morning!
Yesterday for some reason, I started reading some sites online that portray us Americans in quite a different light than I know us to be. The comments on the site were things like, "I hate Americans." "I hate them because of their attitude." "Americans are wasteful." Now I ask you, how can someone group us all together, and make a statement like that? One thing that comes to mind, is they don't know any Americans, or met the wrong ones. We are not cookie cutter Americans. Not anymore than whatever country you are from. They seem to imply that we are ALL wasteful, have a lot of money and live on fast food (due to so many being overweight). Well, international people......it just ain't so!
Never waste garden produce!
Now are we ALL wasteful? No. I belong to a few homesteading forums, and one of the topics that generates a lot of discussion is how to recycle, frugal cooking, growing your own food, sewing, preserving your own food, raising livestock for food and dairy products............even how to build your own home and generate your own utilities. So how can you group us in a lump, and say this is what we are ALL like? The writer, like so many other people, make assumptions based on some Americans, but not ALL Americans!
Animals are expected to go after each other!
To me, this is just an example of why people of all races, nationalities, religions and economic classes cannot get along. Someone always has to be the top dog. The better one. Why does that have to be? The Bible says we are supposed to not judge each other, and love each other unconditionally. I know for me, one of the best things that has happened as a result of the internet interaction with people worldwide, is that I have come to know people in other other countries. People from different backgrounds than me. People with other points of view on many things, such as customs, lifestyle, religion and politics. I love it! And especially them!
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
I have some friends that I have never met face to face, but consider them my closest friends. In fact, I talk to my online friends more than to my own family. From California, Hawaii, Alaska, to Texas, Virginia, all the way to the state of Maine...........to the world! It is endless. Such special people to get to know in a way that was never possible before. A way to make friends, beyond our governments. To know what they are really like, instead of as a tourist, throwing down some bucks for an overpriced vacation. Or reading propaganda written about them.
My grandparents came from Poland
What about you? Do you embrace the world? Or judge them by what you were taught in school or your parents told you? I was lucky in that way. My own family came from other countries. My grandparents all spoke other languages at home. So it has been easy for me to accept everyone and not judge them. In fact, I find I want to know them more. I have been studying two countries lately due to two of my treasured friends, one from Germany, and the other from Australia. I love both of them! They inspired me to want to know more about their countries. I spent some time yesterday reading about the German people and customs. Very interesting! I am learning something new and I love it. I may not be able to travel in person anymore, but I can travel across the internet anytime.
Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2011 Kathleen G. Lupole
3 comments:
I think people in general tend to be jealous of those that have more. It plays out in many different ways. It is ugly isn't it?
Kat, not sure what to say, I personally do not to generalize and is so apologize in the same moment. America has portrayed a picture to the world which simply doesnt hold a lot of truth. I am aware that this picture didnt get created by the Americans but mostly by Politians over many many years. In my humble opinion America could be much better off, be much better educated, should have a stable middle class, should not have refused to sign the Kyoto treaty, should not consider itself the worlds leading democracy as it has proven ever so often that it fails in its own country. To the same time, the Americans I met (in my short time here)are mostly helpful, generous and thoughtful people. Considering my European passport I am capable to live nearly anywhere in the world. Each country has advantages and disadvantages. I can choose which advantages I will want to deal with in the long run. If I do not like it, I can and should move! Having said all of that, dear Kat, I am very glad to have met you. Period
Kat, I can hear your frustration in your voice. It's the misconceptions and the assumptions that people make that make the ignorance in the world. Thanks goodness for bloggers like you who tell it like it is! Thanks for that, Kat! Americans are not all fast food goers and we are not all wasters. It's the misinformed and the ignorant that have this mindset.
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