Let us take a good look in the mirror. It seems the older I get the less I look in the mirror. My face is getting older. My hair is getting thinner. And I noticed a while ago my arms are starting to look like the arms of an old man. For some reason I took the time to look at myself in the mirror with open eyes and saw an aging man. Trust me I haven’t looked at my body since. I look at what I need to look at while shaving and grooming. As hard as it is to look in the mirror these days, I think we all need to look in the mirror with open eyes and truly see ourselves as we are. It is through seeing ourselves with open eyes that we can determine where we are in life, so we can make better choices to be the best person we can be.
I want America to take a good look in the mirror. I want America to look into the mirror and see what other countries see. America has been very generous. We have spent billions of dollars helping lift human beings out of poverty. USAID has done God’s work all around the world and for that America should be very proud. But now that program is being eliminated and we are willing participants in some very cruel and inhumane events here in America and abroad.
I believe it is common for the masses to take on the character and tendencies of the individuals that make up that culture’s society. For example, the tendency of most individuals is to spend the money they make and go into debt to live the lifestyle they feel they deserve. Society tends to spend the tax money that is collected and go into debt trying to pay for the programs it feels it deserves.
Another example is there are many individuals that are willing to believe lies that they know to be lies. And now our society is ok with being lied to by people, and those people don’t suffer any consequences for lying to us. In some strange twist society has begun to even respect and revere the people who lie.
I think it is time for America to look in the mirror with open eyes. I believe America has gotten to the point where it sees only what it wants to look at in the mirror. Just like me, America seems only willing to see what it wants to look at and not see the less attractive side of itself. If America can have the courage to look at itself with open eyes in the mirror and see what others see, then America can make better choices and have a safer and more prosperous future.
This is going to be a very difficult task. It will not be easy to look at America’s darker side that other countries tend to see and remember. It is what others see and remember that defines who we are in their eyes. It will be hard for me to talk about these things and not appear to be ashamed of America. Let me assure you I am not ashamed of America any more than I would be ashamed of a misbehaving child of mine. I love America and I want to hope that other people who love America would want to make America a better and safer country. Please keep in mind as I write this piece that I am putting myself out there to try and make America a better country in the eyes of other countries around the world.
I’d like to start by looking back into time and point out some things that America should not be proud of. It is important not only to remember these events but to see them with open eyes to better understand how others look at America. It is through the natural tendencies of human nature that America chooses not to see these events as others do. There is a movement to stop teaching some of these events in history classes so students won’t feel guilty about being an American. It is normal to feel bad about the conduct of others, and putting blame on ourselves is a natural reaction. It is those types of reactions that make us grow as a person and how we learn what it means to be compassionate.
There isn’t much more to say about the horrors of slavery. Owning human beings and being able to lawfully sell, rape, torture and murder them is the highest definition of what is inhumane. The history of slavery has woven itself into America’s society in such a way that we choose not to see it anymore even though it exists in our daily lives in the form of racism. I know people that I am friendly with who are openly racist. They tell the worst racist jokes and actually think they are funny. They even believe they are cool because they are racist. The only reason they can grow up from an innocent, naive child to be a self absorbed racist adult is because the acceptance of slavery is woven into our society.
Let us try to see the effects that lynching has had on America. The act of lynching another human being is woven into the history and society of America. Lynching has been prominent and accepted in our society for a longtime. It was at its peak from the late 1800’s to the early 1920’s. Lynching is when a group of individuals, small or large, take the law into the own hands. They act as the accuser of a crime, often not being the victim themselves, and the executioner without any due process for the accused. Often, the sentence for the crime was death. And the method for execution was horrific. Many were burned alive in the square with hundreds of people watching. Many were hung from trees and left there to be seen by others as if to say this could happen to you. It wasn’t until just a few years ago, 2022, that lynching finally became a federal crime through the Emmett Till Antilynching Act. It took that long for enough people in Congress to want to make it a hate crime. That for me, is so hard to believe.
Lynching was used to create fear and intimadate minorities to behave a certain way. These tactics were used to keep minorities in their place by the people who thought minorities didn’t deserve to be a full and complete part of society. Does any of this seem familiar to what we are seeing today? Is America’s new immigration crackdown a modern form of lynching? Individuals here legally and illegally are being deported without any due process. They are being sent to third world countries that are being paid by US taxpayer money to keep these people detained, possibly tortured or murdered with no recourse for justice. Does America deporting human beings to third world countries make us less responsible for what happens to them? There is little doubt that this is a modern form of lynching. It will take Americans to see this with open eyes to see it for what it really is.
There are many, many other actions taken by America that are shameful and define who we are as seen by other countries and their citizens.
One of the most cruel and inhumane examples of something we choose to ignore and not see in the mirror, was the effects of agent orange in Vietnam. The effects of agent orange in Vietnam with regards to the amount of children born with grotesque birth defects is still up for debate. But the effects are obvious and America’s denial of its effects are shameful.
America is the only country to ever use a nuclear bomb. America dropped two of them on Japan. America often uses the excuse for having nuclear weapons as they are used to create peace through strength. The idea that America believes it’s ok for America to drop huge bombs on other countries, but it’s not ok for other countries to seek such weapons to achieve peace through strength, is woven into our foreign policy. It is the kind of policy that creates hatred towards America on a global scale. It is the kind of policy that peaceful, God loving people, view as justification for violence against America. The circle of violence can only be broken when everyone agrees enough is enough.
In the 2002 State of the Union address President Bush labeled Iraq, Iran and North Korea the three axes of evil in the world. It was about a year after that America started Operation Shock and Awe. That was the precursor to Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq. Operation Shock and Awe was a bombing mission with the goal of taking out Iraq’s military defense capabilities and to show the awesome strength and power of the United States military in hopes for a quick and peaceful surrender by the Iraqi people. We know how that turned out after a multi year battle and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed by violent death or lack of resources due to the war. Let’s go back to Operation Shock and Awe for a minute. Operation Shock and Awe dropped over 29,000 bombs on Iraq. Most of those bombs were precision guided bombs taking out military targets with great accuracy and little collateral damage. Thousands of the bombs were unguided bombs dropped from bombers flying at a high altitude. Those bombs were dropped with no regard for where they landed and their purpose was to instill fear into the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people to encourage a quick surrender to the invasion by America.
Iraq having been labeled one of the three axes of evil was singled out and chosen to be indiscriminately bombed and invaded. The Iraqi people were murdered by Americans or forced to live in horrific conditions until many more Iraqis died. America caused human suffering on a tremendous scale. America put over 5 million Iraqis into daily food lines trying to get enough food to feed their families.
At that point what could Iran be thinking? Could Iran possibly be thinking they need to secure peace through strength to protect their people? Was Iran thinking they needed to secure peace through strength by obtaining nuclear weapons? Probably.
Here we are decades later dropping America’s largest non-nuclear bombs, 30,000 pound bunker busting weapons on Iran. Not just one or two bombs, but 14 of them. Could have Iran been right when they thought they needed to secure peace through strength? We have been told that if they get a nuclear weapon that they would use it to destroy Israel. Iran has stated that Israel needs to be wiped from the map. Israel should not be allowed to exist. Did they make statements that are translated into english that say that, yes. In 2005, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s new president at the time stated that Israel was a “disgraceful blot“ that should be wiped off the face of the earth. Those remarks have stuck with Iran ever since. What if those remarks were translated correctly but misunderstood in their meaning. What if those remarks were understood to mean that Israel should never have been established in 1947 at the expense of the Palestinian people living in the area. What if those remarks were translated to ask the question; if the Holocaust happened in Germany, why was Palestinian territory taken from them and given away to form Israel? What if those remarks were translated to ask why is the country of Israel allowed to keep expanding its borders at the expense and suffering of the Palestine people. What if those words were translated to mean the State of Israel in Iran’s view, belongs in German territory. Iran has never stated they want to nuke Israel out of existence. But that is what we are told to justify America’s involvement in more human suffering.
Do we as Americans have the courage to look in the mirror and see what is happening in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli Government with the blessing of the American government? I don’t think so. Bombing hospitals and cutting off medical supplies is cruel and inhumane. Using starvation as a weapon of war is cruel and inhumane. Setting up too few food stations to help distribute a fraction of what is needed, only to use those aid stations to shoot and kill young Palestinian males who Israel arbitrarily believes someday may become violent towards Israel. Young males being gunned down waiting in line to get food for their siblings and relatives. Remember that this is all happening with the blessing of the American people. And Americans believe it is ok to deport anyone who protests the level of inhumanity and violence in Gaza. The horrors of what is happening in Gaza is on the scale of slavery, lynching and nuclear weapons. The horrors of what is happening in Gaza is woven into the fabric of American acceptance and is seen in the mirror of every American member of Congress who allows it to happen.
Let us take a minute and look at some lower level events in American history that define how we are viewed by others around the world.
The My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16th, 1968 was a war crime committed by the United States. It defined what America was at that time. It defines who Americans were at that time in the eyes of others around the world.
In the Ecuadorian Amazon, U.S. oil company Texaco left large pools of oil. Over 900 pools of oil were found with some of them being 20 feet deep. These pools of oil, like many other pools of oil left around the world, poison water sheds, cause illnesses and even death. That is what America and Americans did back then to people living in those areas, poisoned them in the name of oil production and profits. Could that type of American behavior justify others to seek destruction of the World Trade Center? Could America’s never ending seeking of profits at the expense of the lives of others and their children around the world justify violence against America? Possibly.
It is hard to write an article like this and not come across as being ashamed to be American. I am not ashamed of being American. I do not feel guilty about the evil acts America has committed and continues to commit around the world. But I do feel a need to speak up against these types of actions. I do feel a need to make America a safer country.
Looking in the mirror with open eyes is very hard. It is hard to see ourselves in an unflattering light. I am asking you to see the dark side of American history with open eyes so we can be better Americans. I know America has done so much good around the world and America has saved millions of lives in the process. USAID agency has done God’s work around the world saving lives and making the lives of millions of people better. There are so many Americans living and working abroad who have been called to make the world a better place by lifting up those who need it the most. And for all of that I am extremely proud of those Americans who sacrifice so much to raise the level of humanity around the world.
I’d like to wrap this up with the war on terror. The war on terror is a circle of violence with no end. For every terrorist you kill, you tend to create multiple other terrorists. Fathers, uncles, brothers, sons and daughters who only want justice for their murdered relatives who believed they were doing the right thing in the name of the God they believe in.
The only way to defeat terrorism is if the terrorists are the only bad guys in the fight. Just as people are hateful and vengeful towards those who kill and murder their loved ones, people can be just as grateful for those who save their loved ones lives. I have said for a longtime, the best way to defeat terrorists and win the war on terror is to meet the enemy in the waiting rooms of their hospitals with the medicine and technology to save their loved ones. If someone showed up in the waiting room of a hospital I was in and said they were there to save my child, my father, my wife or siblings, I would be forever grateful and a loyal defender to that person for the rest of my life. Have you ever sat in the waiting room of an ICU unit in a hospital and not seen anyone who would do anything to save their loved one? The feeling of being helpless to do anything to save your loved one is universal no matter where you live around the world. Imagine if people showed up at that moment and said we are here to help save your loved ones life. The smiles and gratitude would be endless. And there are Americans all around the world doing those very things and saving lives. Those people need our help and support.
I have to say it again, to win the war on terror, the terrorist has to be the only bad guy in the fight. We cannot erase the atrocities America has committed in the past, but we can stop committing them now and in the future.
Americans can vote for a better America. So that someday our children and the America they inherit can look in the mirror and see all the good America has done and feel the gratitude of others around the world.