My Country Tis of Thee…
The world is experiencing some unimaginable catastrophic events that are not only horrifying, but also Hollywood fabricated stories that are occurring before our very eyes. The recent tsunami in Japan is the worst the world has experienced in hundreds of years. Tsunamis occurring in any country are no laughing matter. The financial devastation that tsunamis, hurricanes, and earthquakes cause to the world economies does not compare to the untold deaths of human lives that potentially affect millions of others emotionally and financially. Japan’s government says the total cost of the damage caused by the tsunami could reach 25 trillion yen – or U.S. $309 billion. If the Japan’s government is correct, that would make this disaster the most costly earthly disaster ever.
The death toll in Japan’s recent tsunami has reached over ten thousand and there seem to be no conclusion to the discoveries of dead bodies. Why is the world experiencing a dramatic increase in earthly disasters? Most Earthly natural disasters occurring in the world cannot be avoided. We can only detect and warn people and country leaders by giving time approximations as to when these earthly disasters may occur. Today’s technology has helped to save untold numbers of human lives around the world, and yet, we are unable to save man from himself.
I am surprised at the response of the Japanese people after the tsunami devastated portions of their land. There is apparently no looting or killing of innocent people due to pandemonium. I know the history of America, and had the tsunami occurred in this country, I believe, without a doubt, that there would have been looting and possibly killing. The Japanese people have an internal structure that differs from that of the United States. The Japanese people have lived under their country’s system for thousands of years, and therefore, it effects how they think and react to certain occurrences. The United States government should sit back and study the behavior pattern of these people as it relates to national devastation and corporate behavior patterns under such severe stress.
When Hurricane Katrina hit America’s coastal line and devastated New Orleans and portions of Mississippi, Americans of all races were not only critical of why Katrina may have hit their area opposed to some other coastal line in the U.S., but also our government claimed to be uninformed about the severity of the hurricane’s effect and was extremely slow to respond. Some people in the area where Katrina hit at the time apparently viewed this catastrophic event on the Gulf as a time for looting. In addition to this, some segment of the population placed no emphasis on sparing the lives of African Americans. Angry Americans, of all peoples watched as we saw video footage of the bodies of children and adults floating in polluted waters and the people who were stuck on the rooftops of houses and buildings for days. The American government and its people pulled together too late and lives were lost because of our slow response.
Our prayers and support are for Japan and its people and I celebrate your resilience and strong support of your compatriots. However, for America, wake up and let us learn how to pull together instead of allowing circumstances to pull us apart. America is a melting pot or fusion of people from just about every nation and tongue. We are unique and yet powerful. We embrace the differences in our country and fight that opinions can be spoken without the threat of life being lost. Therefore, Americans’ uniqueness should not be a separation, but a reunion. Individualism is not an occasion for separatism. The test for America is how we will primarily respond as a country to our own internal problems, not how we respond to the needs of other countries.
When the airline flight attendant instructs passengers on how to respond in case of emergency, they without fail, mention for people to put their oxygen mask on first then help others around them.
America, take care of your country and its people first, and then you will be able to help other countries and their people. What will it matter if people from other countries applaud the American government for its intervention, while the American people are yet hungry, unemployed, homeless, sick, living in fear, undereducated, etc. America, we must do a better job at taking care of Americans.
I Love the United States of America…Do You?
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I agree wholeheartedly with the central arguments of this blog post. There is a great deal we Americans can learn from Japan’s response to her recent disasters. And…the United States goes out of its way to prove her goodwill to so many other nations, yet does so little to promote it amongst her own citizens.
While Japan’s history and culture are vastly different from the collective experiences that bind us to the overall North American saga, the lessons that Japan’s continuing ordeal suggest is that we still have a whole lot of coming together to do in this country.
Thanks Dr. Brown for giving us a lot the think about!
I have set and watched the media report day after day on the current situations in Japan, Libya, and other places around the world. It still amazes me that we cannot get alone in this country, yet we want to run and tell other countries how they should behave and treat their citizens. I would love to see Americans put-up or shut-up. I think the so called rulers; of this great nation have failed to understand their duty to the people. Power and responsibility go hand-n-hand. “To much is given, much is required”, the king’s concern is for kingdom and his subjects. What father or mother would feed and nurse another child when their child is dying of hunger and lack of medicine. To quote my mother “any fool knows that charity begins at home”. Millions of dollar in support to other nations, but we have to conduct food drives just to ensure million of America’s children get a balance meal at least once a week. Katrina’s victims are still waiting on our government. America bless God and you will see God continue to bless America! Thank you Dr. Brown for your propounded observation from a global perspective, this is most definitely food for though.