EVERY CHILD COUNTS

I have lived in the United States for the past 15 years and I am prepared to draw ire by saying that it is the most self-absorbed country I am aware of.

I do not say that to offend. I say it because I believe it is true and it is significant. It is an observation I can make as a migrant – especially since I am from another Western, First World nation.

The United States government, virtually since the Revolution and certainly in the era of mass media, has succeeded in developing a modern society that is quite hermetically sealed. Certain information -- e.g. raw footage of carnage in Iraq -- is not permitted to come in from the “outside,” at least not via the mainstream media. Other, somewhat less “controversial” information is allowed in in dribs and drabs so we can still be told we have a free press and live in a real democracy.

The media are so controlled, their messages so carefully crafted and sanitized, that the world view of the citizenry is continually being shaped for them. With America at the center of that world, of course. The U.S. is the “light on the hill,” “God’s country,” the “greatest country in the world.” And a considerable segment of its high school kids can’t find Mexico on a map, let alone Iraq or Afghanistan. Call it “skewed education.”

Patriotism has been made into a fine propaganda curtain in the U.S. If you dare to question the system, you might get branded “un-American.” Conversely, if you want to get a chunk of the population on board for the invasion of a Mid East country, you might talk about the threat to American ideals or security or some such nonsense. It’s us-against-them stuff. And if you aren’t with us, you’re against us and it will be noted.

This is how it goes when you have the biggest stick.

I’d like to take this thinking to the nth degree. Americans (I’m talking generally), are very patriotic – one could argue nationalistic. They also take pride in many of their institutions, like the Bill of Rights and the Constitution and their favorite NFL team. They believe they live in the world’s greatest country largely because many of them haven’t bothered to learn much about other cultures – and their education system certainly hasn’t broken its back encouraging them to. I come from Australia. It’s a pretty good place, trust me. And we don’t get all unhinged about it being the best or the greatest. It’s just a good place to be.

The American Dream (myth) is often savagely defended, at least rhetorically, sometimes violently. America has the best athletes and its champion teams are world champions even though they only play amongst themselves. The nuclear family (a fading concept) is still touted as the model for American life for all those still living the Norman Rockwell fantasy. And our kids (I have an American son), our kids are our jewels.

Okay. So say the great cosmic lottery didn’t land you in America. Say you were born in, oh, Iraq. You bake bread for a living. You have a spouse and two children. It is the only life you know. You are satisfied with the simpler things.

One day, your village is bombed by American planes dropping American bombs paid for with American tax dollars that swelled the coffers of some American corporations. Your spouse and children are killed. They are “collateral damage.” How would you feel?

I’m obviously alluding to a lot of things that will need to be revisited another time, but I wanted to brush some broad strokes to paint a clear context: I love my son more than my own life, but can I say he is more precious than an Iraqi child? Or an Afghan child? Or the collateral damage kids anywhere else on the globe where the country with the biggest stick has self-righteously – and with God’s implicit consent – “protected its interests”?

I cannot. Because parents everywhere love their kids. ALL children are precious. Sure we love our own and see them as special. They are our kids so it’s natural that they’re very special to us.

But look at what we have done to so many places that a lot of us can’t even find on a map. We’re rather indifferent about what our government and its brethren corporations have done in our name “over there,” considering many of us are capable of turning into attack dogs should someone insult our flag… let alone one of our kids!

Are we really that blind?

Well, yes and no. Millions of Americans do NOT fit the description I’ve laid out. But the machinery that perpetuates the American myth and American greed doesn’t want you to know that.

Every major decision made in Washington D.C. has great consequences. Some domestically, some internationally, some both. And a lot of kids are affected. Maybe your kids, maybe not.

But isn’t it our responsibility to take actions and voice opinions that protect them all? Everywhere? If we don’t, what kind of people are we? Surely it needn’t take our own homes being bombed for us to recognize our selfishness. Surely we are blessed enough that we can afford to have compassion for children just like ours regardless of where they happened to be born. And turn that compassion into action.

You have more power in your hands than you realize.

Take care,
Adrian Zupp

ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:

1/ Contact your political representatives and tell them what you think: about poverty, using your taxes to invade sovereign nations, etc. Go here and put in your zip code: http://www.congress.org/

2/ On a more personal level, you can sponsor a child in the Third World. I use World Vision and feel pretty comfortable that the money goes where it should. www.worldvision.org

3/ Locally, you can donate food, clothing and other items to the poor. Goodwill is one very good organizaion: www.goodwill.org Or search the Web for others in your area. There are also those large clothing bins that dot most towns and suburbs.

4/ Pick a career that involves helping others.

5/ Protest, agitate, get involved. Search the Internet for like-minded people, groups and discussion forums.

6/ Do anything but be idle.

IF YOU HAVE OTHER IDEAS PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT
I INVITE YOU TO ALSO TAKE A LOOK AT MY POST "CHILD HUNGER -- THE SCOURGE OF THE PLANET."