THE AMERICAN DREAM REVISITED
THE AMERICAN DREAM REVISITED
Although my dear friend Irene did agree with the majority of my opinions on the American Dream, she did, I believe, feel as though I was being rather harsh. Irene correctly stated that most Americans are moral and do try to do the right thing—most of the time. I agree with this, but my opinion is that most Americans have a myopic view of what the “right thing” really is. They may do the “right thing” for themselves, their friends, their immediate family, or even their country—but do they do the “right thing” for all of humanity, or for the entire planet? Do they know what the “right thing” truly is when considering options on this scale? Do ANY of us know? I don’t believe any of us really do know…but I do believe that we should all make the EFFORT to know and to do the “right thing” on the planetary, or cosmic scale. This is where quality education is so crucial. How can we possibly make the “right” decisions if we don’t know the issues, if we don’t know the possible long-range consequences of our every day knee-jerk reactions? We need to cultivate vision, and we need to understand at the core of our being that we ALL want to be happy. Above all, we need to acutely understand that material accumulation, power, and fame are NOT equivalent to “happiness” or “freedom”. These things can certainly be an effective means of achieving this ultimate and common end, but they must be obtained and distributed with compassion, intelligence, and responsibility. Surely I am not saying anything here that has not been said much more eloquently by countless sages throughout countless centuries. Every action, every thought, every decision we make has an effect in this universe. Only an omniscient being could infallibly describe the intricate relationships that exist within this interdependent network of ideas and actions, and I personally do not believe in the existence of such an “omniscient being”. I do believe, however, in the possibility of us all becoming more aware of that we do have an impact upon this world, even if we do not know exactly what that impact might be. Indeed, all of life is an experiment, and “certainty” is enmeshed within laws of “probability”. With that said, I believe we can and should all aspire to make decisions that take into consideration a much larger picture than what we are usually accustomed. Surely it will be necessary to forego our own instant gratification at times, but perhaps, in time, we can all become instantly gratified by making more globally respectful decisions and contributions of our resources and abilities. All right, I have digressed in grand style! My primary objective was simply to post my emailed response to Irene, so here goes! I appreciate your patience!
Well hello new Mom. Virgil is well and climbing all over me right now, insisting that I give you his regards. Regarding my harangue, don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing Americans. In fact, I would argue that by and large all of humanity is basically good. As for the Arabs, to tell you the truth, I really do not know enough about the situation to make any kind of strong statement one way or the other. I do think though that we need to be extremely wary of demonizing an entire nation of people. And I also think we need to be very wary of believing that Americans are the saviors of the world. The fact of the matter is that the US government has gone against the United Nations on a number of occasions, and that is NEVER a good thing in my opinion. That in itself speaks volumes to me, despite the fact that I cannot elaborate much on details. We tend to see the entire world through blinders--we are right and moral, they are demons. When it comes down to it, I would bet you that most American children could get along well with most Arab children if they were to meet on the playground. That is because children haven't had the time to internalize stereotypes and prejudices--at least not ones that evoke a deep intractable sense of animosity. I think it is also the case that we tend to underrate the intelligence of other nations because we seem to relate intelligence to material possession. That is a convenient fiction. There are many incidences of nations which I personally believe were far ahead of their time in terms of intelligence and, for whatever reason, did not opt to use that intelligence toward material gain. It is funny how in the west we so admire the great minds of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Descartes, Jung, Einstein, Bohr, and countless others...but the philosophers of China, Tibet, and India were actually conveying many of the same thoughts that these and other Westerners expressed, but they did so hundreds and even thousands of year prior. In general, I do not believe that Americans are "evil" (as many would attest), but I do believe that we are myopic and incredibly prone to arrogance. It is not a good thing when we spend billions upon billions of dollars on armed forces (money which is not even ours--Jesus, the national debt is in the trillions!) and can not afford to pay teachers and educators their fair dues. In a nutshell, THAT is where most of the world's problems lie. Power and freedom arise from high quality education and diplomacy, not from bombs and missiles. Well, Sunday evening thoughts. Peace to you and yours.
Luv ya
Todd R.
Although my dear friend Irene did agree with the majority of my opinions on the American Dream, she did, I believe, feel as though I was being rather harsh. Irene correctly stated that most Americans are moral and do try to do the right thing—most of the time. I agree with this, but my opinion is that most Americans have a myopic view of what the “right thing” really is. They may do the “right thing” for themselves, their friends, their immediate family, or even their country—but do they do the “right thing” for all of humanity, or for the entire planet? Do they know what the “right thing” truly is when considering options on this scale? Do ANY of us know? I don’t believe any of us really do know…but I do believe that we should all make the EFFORT to know and to do the “right thing” on the planetary, or cosmic scale. This is where quality education is so crucial. How can we possibly make the “right” decisions if we don’t know the issues, if we don’t know the possible long-range consequences of our every day knee-jerk reactions? We need to cultivate vision, and we need to understand at the core of our being that we ALL want to be happy. Above all, we need to acutely understand that material accumulation, power, and fame are NOT equivalent to “happiness” or “freedom”. These things can certainly be an effective means of achieving this ultimate and common end, but they must be obtained and distributed with compassion, intelligence, and responsibility. Surely I am not saying anything here that has not been said much more eloquently by countless sages throughout countless centuries. Every action, every thought, every decision we make has an effect in this universe. Only an omniscient being could infallibly describe the intricate relationships that exist within this interdependent network of ideas and actions, and I personally do not believe in the existence of such an “omniscient being”. I do believe, however, in the possibility of us all becoming more aware of that we do have an impact upon this world, even if we do not know exactly what that impact might be. Indeed, all of life is an experiment, and “certainty” is enmeshed within laws of “probability”. With that said, I believe we can and should all aspire to make decisions that take into consideration a much larger picture than what we are usually accustomed. Surely it will be necessary to forego our own instant gratification at times, but perhaps, in time, we can all become instantly gratified by making more globally respectful decisions and contributions of our resources and abilities. All right, I have digressed in grand style! My primary objective was simply to post my emailed response to Irene, so here goes! I appreciate your patience!
Well hello new Mom. Virgil is well and climbing all over me right now, insisting that I give you his regards. Regarding my harangue, don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing Americans. In fact, I would argue that by and large all of humanity is basically good. As for the Arabs, to tell you the truth, I really do not know enough about the situation to make any kind of strong statement one way or the other. I do think though that we need to be extremely wary of demonizing an entire nation of people. And I also think we need to be very wary of believing that Americans are the saviors of the world. The fact of the matter is that the US government has gone against the United Nations on a number of occasions, and that is NEVER a good thing in my opinion. That in itself speaks volumes to me, despite the fact that I cannot elaborate much on details. We tend to see the entire world through blinders--we are right and moral, they are demons. When it comes down to it, I would bet you that most American children could get along well with most Arab children if they were to meet on the playground. That is because children haven't had the time to internalize stereotypes and prejudices--at least not ones that evoke a deep intractable sense of animosity. I think it is also the case that we tend to underrate the intelligence of other nations because we seem to relate intelligence to material possession. That is a convenient fiction. There are many incidences of nations which I personally believe were far ahead of their time in terms of intelligence and, for whatever reason, did not opt to use that intelligence toward material gain. It is funny how in the west we so admire the great minds of Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Descartes, Jung, Einstein, Bohr, and countless others...but the philosophers of China, Tibet, and India were actually conveying many of the same thoughts that these and other Westerners expressed, but they did so hundreds and even thousands of year prior. In general, I do not believe that Americans are "evil" (as many would attest), but I do believe that we are myopic and incredibly prone to arrogance. It is not a good thing when we spend billions upon billions of dollars on armed forces (money which is not even ours--Jesus, the national debt is in the trillions!) and can not afford to pay teachers and educators their fair dues. In a nutshell, THAT is where most of the world's problems lie. Power and freedom arise from high quality education and diplomacy, not from bombs and missiles. Well, Sunday evening thoughts. Peace to you and yours.
Luv ya
Todd R.
posted by Todd Reinhard at 5:49 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home