This society would consider me somewhat of a humanitarian. I was discussing this with a friend earlier this week and she said "I just wish I could take everyone in poverty and give them a better life." Before I say anything more, I need to disclaimer: I am compassionate towards poverty and I do not disregard poverty as a world wide tragedy. However, is the "wealth" and "opportunity" of America any better than the poverty of other countries? We are all still miserable. We have petty complaints that practically ruin our lives.
America. The great melting pot...recent historians have coined the term "tossed salad" as a more appropriate description. I call bull. If we were to take impoverished citizens of Romania and "give them a new life" in America, they would (almost) always be second class citizens. I live in the south. When someone comes around that doesn't speak English very well, I watch the people around me roll their eyes and focus all of their attention on the "foreigner." I hear grumbles and complaints. Why would we subject someone to that? How can we say that you can't be happy without money? Just because they live in a poor country doesn't mean they don't have joy. Yes, their situation may be more dangerous than ours. Yes, there are many people who dream of America. But it is an incredibly ethnocentric (See Mrs. Brasher, I really did pay attention in your class) view to think that all Americans have more fulfilling lives than those of third world countries.
How do we contribute to this? Stop viewing yourself as entitled. This world...it owes you NOTHING. You don't get to make demands of others. Treat others AND yourself respectfully. Give without ceasing. Love everyone. It's no secret that I am not particularly a "people person." My friends joke that it's odd that I don't like people because I'm SO good at talking to them. I'm not. I'm good at listening. People like to be listened to. So do that. Do something nice for someone. Be nice to someone. And let go of your ethnocentrism.
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