I think its hard to be an American, in some ways. I mean you have all this potential, so many things that you could be doing, and yet you must choose just a few things. You could enjoy your life, buy a boat, go to picnics, have a family. You could specialize in some sort of hobby or another. You can be really good at your job. You can fall into any of the million traps hiding behind a million other addictions. You could dedicate your life to helping others. Or you do a little bit of everything. Most of us dabble in every area. The problem, of course, is that the pleasures of the world are so damn enjoyable, and life becomes all self edification. But this is not the edification of old, this is not dedication, this is not hard work. Our edification is material and our goals/life work reflects these values.
When we (the U.S.) try to help other countries we give them food, aid, money. We don't send them books, we don't send them teachers, we don't try to improve their attitudes. We try to improve their standard of living. Using, of course, our standards. But we are not in touch with the rest of the world any more, we are enlightened, we are furnished, and in the end everything gets exploited and people, back here, begin to blame the rest of the world for not fitting into our definition...
George Orwell said that there are some ideas so wrong only an intelligent person could believe them. When I first read that I understood the meaning perfectly: the intellectual is so separated from everyday life that they cannot understand it. The next hundred readings lost the meaning and I thought it spoke to a million different things. Now I've come back to where I started and believe that quote to be very important for our future. How it applys here: we, americans, find our selves in a different situation than everyone else in the world. Those of us who are middle to upper class here, we are light years different than the rest of the world. I think we want you to enjoy what we have but we're so far removed from the everyday life of the world its almost as if we are speaking a different language. To put it simply, our train of thought is so different, so vastly different, that it makes communication/exchange difficult no matter how sincere the offer...
When we (the U.S.) try to help other countries we give them food, aid, money. We don't send them books, we don't send them teachers, we don't try to improve their attitudes. We try to improve their standard of living. Using, of course, our standards. But we are not in touch with the rest of the world any more, we are enlightened, we are furnished, and in the end everything gets exploited and people, back here, begin to blame the rest of the world for not fitting into our definition...
George Orwell said that there are some ideas so wrong only an intelligent person could believe them. When I first read that I understood the meaning perfectly: the intellectual is so separated from everyday life that they cannot understand it. The next hundred readings lost the meaning and I thought it spoke to a million different things. Now I've come back to where I started and believe that quote to be very important for our future. How it applys here: we, americans, find our selves in a different situation than everyone else in the world. Those of us who are middle to upper class here, we are light years different than the rest of the world. I think we want you to enjoy what we have but we're so far removed from the everyday life of the world its almost as if we are speaking a different language. To put it simply, our train of thought is so different, so vastly different, that it makes communication/exchange difficult no matter how sincere the offer...
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