Tue Mar 23, 2004 11:51 am
America: Your Friendly Neighborhood Superhero
Ah just wanna say that I truly appreciate and admire the generosity of this country. Indeed that America is the biggest donor country is not a myth or a tale. I’d like to take this opportunity to say a few words of gratitude to the greatest darn country in the world, something you probably will not hear from the media obsessed with making the worse out of America.
When my home country was embroiled in chaos and many Chinese were targeted in riots and massacred by the hundreds, this country opened its doors for us. They took us in as refugees and gave us nearly as much rights as any American. The government paid for my school, gave us working permit and gave our family a brand new start. Could I ask for more? Our neighboring countries, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, none of them were nearly as welcoming as the America.
When the Christians in Indonesia were being purged, village-by-village, America put pressure on the government to send in troops to protect them.
Again when a number of atrocities (by that I mean atrocities as in mass murder and such) in East Timor became known, that involves a separatist group being massacred in cold blood, the American again puts so much pressure on the government to allow the people to vote to be part of Indonesia or to leave. In the end because of US intervention the government relinquished control of the bloodied region. Again none of the neighboring countries even cared enough for the plight of the persecuted to take real action.
Then the country descended into an economic crisis. Much of it was due to the corruption that stemmed from tip to toe of societal classes. Now even at this time US intervened and loaned Indonesia a huge sum of money. Sadly many in the country knew little about gratitude and a lot of them have been indoctrinated to distrust the United States through their religion or school. They accused the United States of taking advantage of the situation and blamed her for enforcing very strict conditions on the huge loan. Yet now that her economy is mending it’s funny that no one ever accredited the United States, their help and tough measures for it.
It’s unfortunate these days that despite of all these United States is often blamed for many things that were not its fault. There’s an irony at play here just like Spiderman. Spiderman runs around New York City saving lives, yet many distrusted him, often jumped to conclusion at his slightest mistake, accusing him as a criminal and such. Truly, more often than not, it’s a thankless job. When he’s unable to help a soul or made a mistake, they would accuse him of failing or even causing the tragedy in the first place.
The voice of the majority is often punctuated very loudly by the news media, but often they overlook the large minorities who felt that America’s actions had helped them in their worse crisis. 94% of Indonesians may not like American intervention and their parading and demonstrations in front of the embassy were often shown in the news. However there’re that 6% of 200 million people (which’s about 6 million btw) whose lives were saved in one way or another through America’s help. Our stories are rarely if ever heard on the news. Think about it. Pause a moment. How many people, the minorities like us must suffer, before it justifies help from fellow human beings. Think about the Kurds in Iraq who’re free from Saddams’ persecution, the Christians in Indonesia, or Sudan and many more others. Truly our percentage might be small, but when you do the math, actually we’re not as small as you think. There’re millions of people like me who’re rarely heard, who’s very fond and grateful of America and all the ideologies that she stands for.
In closing, I would like to say: way to go America! May God bless you year after year and keep you for His special purpose.
Isn’t the following message inscribed to the Statue of Liberty beautiful?
Be proud America! You have a very special part in the world.
When my home country was embroiled in chaos and many Chinese were targeted in riots and massacred by the hundreds, this country opened its doors for us. They took us in as refugees and gave us nearly as much rights as any American. The government paid for my school, gave us working permit and gave our family a brand new start. Could I ask for more? Our neighboring countries, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, none of them were nearly as welcoming as the America.
When the Christians in Indonesia were being purged, village-by-village, America put pressure on the government to send in troops to protect them.
Again when a number of atrocities (by that I mean atrocities as in mass murder and such) in East Timor became known, that involves a separatist group being massacred in cold blood, the American again puts so much pressure on the government to allow the people to vote to be part of Indonesia or to leave. In the end because of US intervention the government relinquished control of the bloodied region. Again none of the neighboring countries even cared enough for the plight of the persecuted to take real action.
Then the country descended into an economic crisis. Much of it was due to the corruption that stemmed from tip to toe of societal classes. Now even at this time US intervened and loaned Indonesia a huge sum of money. Sadly many in the country knew little about gratitude and a lot of them have been indoctrinated to distrust the United States through their religion or school. They accused the United States of taking advantage of the situation and blamed her for enforcing very strict conditions on the huge loan. Yet now that her economy is mending it’s funny that no one ever accredited the United States, their help and tough measures for it.
It’s unfortunate these days that despite of all these United States is often blamed for many things that were not its fault. There’s an irony at play here just like Spiderman. Spiderman runs around New York City saving lives, yet many distrusted him, often jumped to conclusion at his slightest mistake, accusing him as a criminal and such. Truly, more often than not, it’s a thankless job. When he’s unable to help a soul or made a mistake, they would accuse him of failing or even causing the tragedy in the first place.
The voice of the majority is often punctuated very loudly by the news media, but often they overlook the large minorities who felt that America’s actions had helped them in their worse crisis. 94% of Indonesians may not like American intervention and their parading and demonstrations in front of the embassy were often shown in the news. However there’re that 6% of 200 million people (which’s about 6 million btw) whose lives were saved in one way or another through America’s help. Our stories are rarely if ever heard on the news. Think about it. Pause a moment. How many people, the minorities like us must suffer, before it justifies help from fellow human beings. Think about the Kurds in Iraq who’re free from Saddams’ persecution, the Christians in Indonesia, or Sudan and many more others. Truly our percentage might be small, but when you do the math, actually we’re not as small as you think. There’re millions of people like me who’re rarely heard, who’s very fond and grateful of America and all the ideologies that she stands for.
In closing, I would like to say: way to go America! May God bless you year after year and keep you for His special purpose.
Isn’t the following message inscribed to the Statue of Liberty beautiful?
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Be proud America! You have a very special part in the world.
