What does it mean to be an American? The United States of America is the country I was born in, but I often hear different ideas from different peoples, including Americans, what it means, exactly, to be an American and what an American is.
This country is populated by people from all different parts of the world. In every major city there are large neighborhoods dedicated to the ethnicity of the people who live there like Chinatown(s) and Little Italy(s). To be American doesn’t have any sort of prerequisite except that the United States is the place you physically call home, and some red tape with the government and all that—can’t do it the easy way. It would be nice if it all could be done the easy way with just a nice “Welcome to the United States of America, you are now an American.” Just about every national government has “red tape” that an individual must get covered with to legally become a citizen of their country. There are certainly some people that for some reason or another should have a little red tape on them no matter where in the world they are. Regardless of that, it seems that throughout the world in all countries people have forgotten or simply ignore the fact that people are people no matter what they look like and fear and distrust fuel things like hatred and malicious violence. It’s a bit disappointing to think that after all these centuries of spiritual and political awakenings and re-awakenings humankind hasn’t figured out that life would be much easier if we all tried to get along.
.There have been people throughout history who have made inspiring attempts to unite the world in peace whose teachings, ideals or whatever you want to call them have strong influences on virtually every aspect of our lives, whether we realize it or not. Unfortunately, many of the people of the world are still not living in peace together. It’s very strange that the messages of love from the great peacemakers did not work. I suppose that can be a difficult thing to keep going strong when there are those who believe that they benefit from “not-love,” for lack of a better term, and encourage people through lies and deceit to go the way of not-love. We are all imperfect human beings susceptible to the deceit and trickery of not-love, so maybe it's not so strange. Given that, it would be wise to learn to recognize the people that empower and are empowered by this dark force so that one can be prepared for the treachery and guile which always accompanies it. Life may sometimes feel like one step forward for two steps back, but like in all the old and not so old stories, you will find that in life also the good guys always win. What is important is knowing who the good guys and the bad guys are.
Since it’s what is generally defined as “bad” that is causing the most trouble in the world I think that it is important to define what bad actually is. It seems like throughout history the ones who have eventually earned the title of what is popularly known as “bad guy,” also the promoters of not-love, have been the people who have basically lived up to the Oxford American Dictionary’s definition of bad, which is “morally depraved; wicked.” When people have murdered, stolen, disrespected their fellow humans (to name just a few “bad” things) or encouraged others to do such things nothing good ever happened, except maybe that people united for a single purpose to stop them from doing those things. Still, it would be better if people could unite under better circumstances, but get it how you can I guess. Most spiritual beliefs in the world have the same basic idea about what bad and good is and they all seem to share the same basic concept about who the “bad guy” is. Still, for some reason they have not united under that commonality which allows them to sometimes become subject to the deceit and treachery of the bad guy. What’s the problem here? If they share the same beliefs why don’t they unite to destroy the force that is trying to destroy them individually? It seems to be a matter of human pride, arrogance, and the corruption that comes with power, to name a few things. If people truly want to accomplish a goal together history has proven that they can do it, still they don’t take the opportunity when it is within their grasp.
People are not perfect and it is foolish to think that we never make mistakes. One should understand that forgiveness is a valuable part of life and a power that should not be underestimated. There are those, I am sad to say, who abuse the forgiveness that is offered to them, not understanding that it is a priceless gift and not to be taken for granted. There are also those who for some reason don’t acknowledge their gifts of forgiveness and to forgive and never use them. We all must realize that we each have the ability to forgive and that to do it is a major factor in the peace process. Perhaps if we were a bit more empathetic and understand that everyone suffers because of the same kinds of basic tragedies and receive enjoyment from the same basic pleasures we would realize that we are not all so different and can live in a peaceful environment if we would trust each other. Easier said than done, I know. With the way this world is whoever makes the first trusting move must really believe that the human race is not a lost cause.
The people of the world, more precisely the leaders, need to take a playground “time-out” to give themselves a chance to get an honest, uninhibited look at the direction the world is going, because this planet isn’t just a ball of countries anymore. When a person can make a donation to a charity in another country at the push of a button or another can steal money from a business in another country in the same manner, this is a world of human beings, not Americans, Irish, Ethiopians, Russians, Turks, Chinese, and whatever else people have decided to call themselves throughout the history of the world. The world wide web is just one example of the ties that bind us as human beings. Another example of something that we have in common is being confident about what we hope for and doubtless about what we do not see: faith, if you will.
Letting the people of this planet know the things that they have in common would be a logical way to get everyone to meet on a kind of common ground. I suppose that one would have to figure out what humans can all agree that they have in common in the first place to get them all to meet on that ground. It sounds like a tough task, but maybe it’s not. Human beings all have the basic needs of food, shelter and clothing; everyone likes to be entertained in some way or another; everyone has some sort of faith (even atheism and agnosticism is arguably a faith); human beings are generally social creatures; and they all appear to have a desire to lead and/or be lead. There are many more things that people have in common, but the point is that as different as we may seem to each other, we are all still human beings who share the same atmosphere, the same planet, and the same primary joys and sorrows.
To now for the most part I have not been referring to any specific country or leader, and with good reason. These days it seems like the world is divided into the East and West. The West includes North America, Europe, and whoever they are friends with politically (including "your enemies are my enemies"), in a business manner, and believe it or not, religiously--though that last one doesn't seem to matter so much anymore. It's no surprise that the United States is the leader of the West, although it is a relatively young country to be so influential. The West is generally Christian (for lack of a better term), and there is (officially) a separation of church and state. The East is pretty much every other country that matters to the West from a political, business, and maybe religious perspective, but doesn't want to play by the rules of the West. The East has probably the oldest civilizations documented and a passionately religious population that has lasted for centuries. There is no separation of church and state, the countries are wealthy, and they have been at war for centuries over the same things--mostly religion related. Still, whether you are from the West or the East, every person is susceptible to materialism, greed and the blindness of the soul that comes with that.
I suppose that those in power could easily become confused about what is best for the world, especially these days when the desired to be defensive is a major factor in peoples’ lives. With power comes much temptation and corruption is always knocking at the door. There will always be a need for a government, more specifically, leadership. No matter what person or persons is in power there will always be distractions from the pursuit of what is right, unless the source of the distraction can be found and an agreeable change can be made to stop the distraction. This increasing power of influence that the West has should be used for the good of the world, because, as I mentioned before, it is not just a world of countries anymore when a person in one hemisphere can communicate with another person in another hemisphere at relatively the same time at the push of a button. Like with the birth of the United States of America and the first application of democracy, there are some major changes coming very soon that will change humanity.
Democracy was originally conceived around 500 B.C. in Greece and it was a brilliant idea with the best intentions (though Aristotle and Plato did not like it at all). As the concept evolved throughout history it was perfect for its time when North America was the “new world” and there were still places and peoples on Earth that were undiscovered. Theoretically, one could say that this new age that humanity is in at the beginning of the twenty-first century with things like the world wide web and satellites that can read the license plate of a car is similar to the new world that gave birth to what the founding fathers of the United States called democracy. This can give one the impression that a change is due. It seems like the world is very close to having a one world government. Whether that government will be a democracy, communist, monarchy, socialist or whatever I don’t know. Perhaps in these changing times a new form of government will be conceived, taking the best qualities of all of the governments that have ever existed. Whatever the case, it certainly appears that something is bound to happen on a global, powerfully influential scale. The major obstacles that seem to be preventing such a thing from coming to fruition are political (and everything that encompasses), materialistic, and religious. I suppose one could just say "money" and that would encompass all of them. There are cultural differences but those are minor obstacles, because people have been enjoying each others differences in many different ways as long as history has been recorded.
As far as the religious/spiritual differences among people, there are those who desire for peace, love and happiness for all, and those who are empowered by what I previously described as "bad," or "not-love," and each will get what they deserve in the end--call it "karma," "what comes around goes around," "you reap what you sew," etc., etc. Religion and spirituality is a part of every person’s life, directly or indirectly, and it does have some part in government, whether the government officially admits it or not.
Money, or should I say the love of money, is definitely playing an important role in the world these days and it is influencing the increasing gap between the rich and the poor. There will always be wealthier and poorer people, but if there are only those who have and those who don’t have, if we can learn anything from history, that is definitely a problem. Since the peoples of the world are more unified than in the past the problem of economic imbalance becomes another straw on the camel’s back along with political and religious differences which all boils down to, yes I’ll say it, what is right and what is wrong. This is a bit of a dangerous subject because every culture (however diverse), religion (however diverse), and generation (however diverse) have their moral and ethical standards (however diverse), every individual within each of these categories does also. The peculiar (or maybe not) thing is that the morals and ethics of the people of the world are basically the same. Nobody in their “right” mind wants to be robbed or raped or murdered or anything unpleasant of that nature, yet things like that are still done. Perhaps it is the simple idea that the great peacemakers have been passing on for centuries in so many different ways that “You reap what you sew” and karma and “What comes around goes around.” It happens all of the time in peoples’ lives and they still don’t get it. It certainly has something to do with the influence of the ones who believe in the power of UN-love. If people, and I certainly include myself when I use that plural term, could learn to recognize and overcome those dark forces life together would be much easier and more peaceful, however there would probably be some kind of conflict with the UN-love people. That is inevitable. It has been written about many times throughout history in many different ways. The great battle between good and evil. Unfortunately, these days it’s getting more and more difficult to tell who is on whose side. Like the old saying goes, “there are no rules in love and war.”
About getting the world together on some sort of common ground, one must take into consideration money. The United States probably spends the most money in the world in the context of corporations, government, and individual consumers. Countries like China, which have the ability to produce what spenders want to buy because of their ability to produce things cheaply, which likely has something to do with the government of China and the large population of the country, should like every country and person, recognize their weaknesses. The point I am trying to make is that consumers like the United States, which apparently is taking advantage of China’s cheap labor and natural resources to the disadvantage of China (some can be blamed on China’s government, of course) cause pollution, diseases, and known and yet unknown environmental destructive problems have a powerful influence on the whole world. The world leaders, especially the United States of America, which seems to have the power to influence the world to do this or that, should make a decision on whether or not to do this or that. It may sound simple or not. Currency is not the only factor involved in that major decision that effects the world. There is spirituality/religion, politics, culture, science/technology, and simple communication. Of course I cannot forget what everyone knows deep in their hearts. Everyone knows what is right and what is wrong. What it comes down to is do you want to do what is right or wrong?
