Get over who we are and be our friend when we're in need

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/4215336.stm

There is nothing that sets me into greater fits of fury and that ties my stomach up in knots and forces tears into my eyes than knowing that I am hated. There is little pity for a middle class white girl from an academic family and an idyllic background, and I know I cannot understand the pain that so many people go through on a daily basis, but I too feel it. I decided that I wanted to work in diplomacy to help the world understand that, although the US is a democracy, and in theory, all of us have a vote and representation, the people cannot always be blamed for the actions of the nation. This is a tremendous country, filled with a wealth of experiences, passions, achievements, and also wealth, self-assuredness, and self-interest. However, just as with a forest, an onlooker sees not the differently shaped leaves of the sassafras or the needles on the pine.

I know that now, I am surrounded by Americans: patriotic ones, political ones, liberals, conservatives, anti-nation ones, anarchists, artists, writers, intellectuals, parents, and the people who make my and other’s lives run smoothly. However, my English teacher overseas saw only a greedy, cocky nation who only wanted to export our image to suck the world into our approved way of life. He saw that, and he told me that since I was an American, if was my problem. I wasn’t even old enough to vote.

It disappoints me that tremendous loss in my country is only important to the rest of the world as yet another opportunity to pick apart the administration here. Some fail to see that the people affected by the hurricane and the flooding are not regular guests of the White House, do not set foot on red carpets daily, and do not live the life of Mr. Pennybags. They are real people, and yes, our current system put many of them in a position of substandard life, which is my fault, as a voter, but not an issue to be taken up by the rest of the world when people are coping with loss: of life, family, belongings, and normality.

I suppose the world only sees the water, the admonishers of the system, and the newscasters. They do not see the panic of people around the world concerned for relatives and loved ones who have not yet been found. They do not feel the concern and the helplessness of those unable to give to the cause. They see images that remind them of third world countries ravaged by storms or tsunamis but dismiss the imagery as that of the richest country in the world and assume that it is their fault for letting it get worse. (We do have a wealth distribution problem. Just because the GDP per capita is high does not mean we don’t have people living in poverty. We’re working on it.)

Not all people are rich. Not all people are generous. Not all people have concern for others. That is not something that is limited to the US, and it does not fall under any treaty or universal law. The government cannot make people care – they can try, but caring is something completely owned by the individual. In times of crisis, action is the most important step. After the problem has been solved, it can be reflected upon or the process criticized, but until damage is undone, people are rescued, families united, and lives reinstated, urgency remains. Please, world, in times of crisis, don’t see us as the spoiled child on the playground and ignore us as we choke, or leave us on the side of the road, beaten and unprepared. We may not ask for help, we may not need help, but don’t curse us until people are safe.