Re: [Leica] For you George

[George Lottermoser <imagist@concentric.net>]

jim@hemenway.com (Jim Hemenway)9/12/018:44 PM

> I can name you 5000 times when the Americans raced to
> the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me
> even one time when someone else raced to the Americans
> in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even
> during the San Francisco earthquake.
> 
> Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one
> Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get
> kicked around. They will come out of this thing with
> their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled
> to thumb their nose at the lands that are gloating
> over their present troubles. I hope Canada is not one
> of those."
> 
> Stand proud, America!

And for me this speaks to the paradox that I try to understand
within a global context. I do stand as a proud United States
citizen. But I must also attempt to understand the anger and
frustration of the rest of the world and why they aim their anger
at the United States. I'm old enough to have witnessed some of
our finest hours, as well as national behavior which I found
repulsive. I can't help but ponder our immense consumption of
global resources (2/3 of the global resources, according to some
statistics). Imust contemplate the vast and growing chasm between
the richest and poorest at home and abroad. I do not excuse or
attempt to justify the acts of insanely frustrated, mad fanatics.
I simply and desperately wish to understand man's inhumanity to
itself; and search for the sanest possible response to each
insane act of terror, whether against the United States or else
where, whether by a sanctioned government/military body or by a
rogue fanatic.

George