First off, I'm not excluding myself from this criticisms. I am equally responsible for many of the things I'm about to say. I, like every other U.S. citizen, don't realize the greediness of my everyday actions, and the selfishness of my expectations and frustrations living in America.
In a world with trillions of people, there is no such thing as equality. Are there equal opportunities? No. Does the child born into poverty in India have the same opportunity as the child born into a multi-million dollar wealthy family in America?
That same American child may live it's life, maxing out multiple credit cards, crashing three new cars, and not earning a dime of their own money- attending college completely on their parent's dime.
Now tell me, does that same child in India, who is forced into labor at age 6 to help feed his/her family, have the same opportunity to attend college on their parent's dime? That is, if they weren't dropped at the orphanage door when it was three days old. Or any schooling for that matter?
Yet knowing this, we throw away our education; take it as a joke. Ditch and fail classes, just because we can. Grow up America.
As Americans, we dine out multiple times a week, because we're too tired to prepare the things we have sitting in our cupboards and refrigerators, or simply because it doesn't sound appealing or tasteful. In Africa, if a mother is too tired to cook, her family starves. In third world countries, picky is not in their vocabulary- or they'll go to bed hungrier than they normally would.
We sadistically tell each other, "There are starving kids in Africa" when wasting, and with cruel humor respond, "Well then send it to them!" or shrug our shoulders just because it doesn't affect us. We continue to pick and choose, throw away, and eat until we're full, knowing there are people around the world willing to eat your garbage. Grow up America.
I don't agree with everything the American Government approves, who they appoint, or the things they stand for- in fact, I don't agree with most things. But at least I have the right to disagree. In North Korea, they bow down to their leader- and out of fear, worship him.
We get upset because we don't agree with every last thing the Government decides, yet we forget there aren't soldiers patrolling our streets, waiting for an excuse to use their guns against us. Grow up America.
In contrast, we are a country of contradictory wealth and unnecessary debt. We portray ourselves as a Christian nation, yet patrol the Mexican boarder, and deport and raid the homes of those illegally working in our country, doing the jobs non of us greedy, lazy, Americans will do.
We complain that the Government needs to create more jobs- but fail to open our eyes to the jobs available to us, because of how many hard working people we force out of our country. We demand more jobs, but refuse to pick up a rake, a spatula, or a mop. Grow up America.
We are willing to take the time to sit on Facebook, complaining about the lack of snow, but won't take the extra time to separate your trash from the recycling, or wake up a little earlier to take the bus, to prevent you're over polluting car from warming our planet- thus preventing your snow.
We complain about it being too hot, yet when it rains, the complaining doesn't cease. We forget there are people in third world countries, praying for rain to provide for their wells and crops just to survive. Knowing so, we still continue to leave our faucets running longer than we need to, run our dishwashers and washing machines when they aren't full, and wash our cars once a week because we're scared of a little dirt. Grow up America.
We rebel school dress codes because we think we should be able to wear whatever we want, and show our 'personalities' through our clothing choices, because the fact that we don't need to cover our faces like the woman in middle eastern countries isn't good enough.
We assume being free is the ability to do whatever we want, and not the privilege of not risking
abuse and possible death for not following the standards and commands like some other countries. Grow up America.
Our military prevents recognized gays and lesbians to serve in our military. Despite his service to our country our US Military fired Lt. Dan Choi not for disobeying orders, or leaving a man behind, but because of his sexual orientation. We won't let gays and lesbians kill for our country, but rather allow them to kill themselves because we won't put a stop to the harassment or pass a bill.
We deny the rights of same sex marriage, but allow a number of celebrities and unstable couples destroy the institution of marriage. We don't question a man and a woman marrying, no matter their age, motives, ability to raise children, or love for each other- despite the 50% divorce rate. while still, denying same-sex couple the right to marry. We are furious that the Government is trying to set limitations on having a 'free internet', but not so worried about the limitations on same-sex marriage. Grow up America.
We spend money going to concerts, movies, amusement parks, luxurious vacations, expensive restaurants, and still wonder at the end of the day, why aren't we happy? How is it possible that all this money couldn't buy us happiness? As a country based on wealth and dollar sign success, we correlate money with happiness, when we could head the homeless shelter and give out blankets, food, or even engage in fruitful conversation. Grow up.
We have an on going accumulation of debt over wars with other countries, when we should put down our guns, grenades, shut down our tanks, and start facing the war within our own country. How can we expect to fix another country when we can't even fix ourselves? Bring home the soldiers, bring home the fighter pilots, bring home the mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters, and solve our own problems, and stop bothering those who didn't ask us to intervene. Grow up America.
Once we can put down our guns in the middle east, we'll have two free hands- one can pick up a hammer and build an orphanage in Russia, the other a shovel and dig a well in Ethiopia.
The Government can try and control what we read on the internet, in text books, newspapers, and magazines, but they can never control the way we think. America is infamous for doing a lot of talking, and no 'walking' per-say.
We may be fighting our own battles, but open your eyes, and realize that no matter what, somewhere else has it worse.
So grow up, stop complaining, and do something about it.
