Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Try Opening The Book
People love to whip out their extended lists of things they think I need to change about myself. �I�d like you better if you fulfilled my opinion on how you should live your life.�
Many countries express a much similar thought when it comes to the United States.
America may have her faults and shortcomings...as any country does but America often does the right thing. Doing the right thing isn’t always easy. There will always be the doubters and nay sayers who will voice their opinion, often loudly, during the entire course of action. Then there are those who sit on the fence, unsure what they think about the situation. Some are lost to the doubting side because many people will grow impatient for results. We are bombarded on a daily basis by everything happening quickly, fast, right now! People have become accustomed to demanding that their 8 course meal be served to them in McDonald�s time. People aren�t thinking things through. They are quick to jump to conclusions, make assumptions and base their views on surface information.
People no longer read the book. Instead, they only read the front and back covers before making what they consider an informed opinion and either tossing it back into the pile or purchasing it to place on their bookshelves at home for all to admire. Of the people who buy the book, there are still those who won�t ever read it, rather, they only got it for appearances sake; something to brag about when their friends come over.
�Have you read it?�
�Oh sure! I have it don�t I?�
�What was your opinion on it?�
And the book buyer goes into a so called well thought out spiel, tossing in a few large words here and there to really impress everyone when in reality, they�re just repeating a version of the story that was written by someone else onto the jacket of the book. They can�t be bothered to take the time to read the book themselves. After all, it�s much easier to let someone else do the thinking for them and take the credit as they try to sound magnificent and wise.
This happens everyday. People recite the cliff�s notes version of life but don�t sit back and listen, see, examine, open their minds to the possibility that someone else�s opinion isn�t right for them. We see it in the news, in essays written, in speeches made, in day to day socialization.
�I heard what you said or seen what you’ve written.�
Did you? Did you really, in that 20 seconds, take enough time to think about what I said; grasp my meaning or did you leap to conclusions based on what others have told you to think? Did you lose the meaning because one or two phrases or words leaped out and offended you? Did you shut yourself down to everything else and only concentrate on those offending phrases or words the moment you saw or heard them?
�I�ve seen what you do.�
Have you? Have you really seen everything I do? Do you really think you know everything there is to know about me or is it possible that I do a lot of things �behind the scenes� that you�ll never know about? Do you really think you�ve found your way inside my thoughts and gone through my history, my memories, my intentions?
�I know you.�
Do you? Do you really know me from what you see at work or when we hang out for a few hours? You know everything there is to know about me in such a small amount of time?
And yet we turn around and get upset when other countries do this to us. Do other countries really know America from what they have seen on t.v., the movies or in print? Have they really seen everything we have done? All of it? America has millions of illegal immigrants and millions of legal immigrants but she�s viewed as evil. �How can they say we are evil and greedy? Look at everything we do for other countries! Look at how much money we have given them! Look at how many of our soldiers have died so that they may have the freedoms we have enjoyed for years! We welcome them with open arms to come here and try to make a better life for themselves! How is it possible for them not to see it? How is it possible that they haven�t heard us? How can they think they know us when they have never met any of us? I don�t understand!�
Ask yourself that question the next time you talk with a friend, a co-worker, read someone�s writing. Ask yourself if you are not shaped by your society. Ask yourself if you have given THEM a chance before judging that book by its cover.
I don�t condone such unsolicited hatred or judgments but the next time you are upset and wondering why so many in this world hate us, ask yourself if you don�t have the time to think for yourself either. How can you expect such things from others when you won�t even do it yourself?
