I read a lot to escape a very sterile and cruel yet stable family when I was young and the subject of my suffering, in the context of human suffering, fascinated me; especially what Dostoyevsky had to say. Of course I was too young to understand his depths, especially the concept of redemption by personal suffering.
What struck me as a child, and it seems valid enough even now, is that the Russians know how to suffer. None of these folks ran around all put out because life did not turn out the way they expected and planned. Yes, they were unhappy but somehow they always continued to chop wood and haul water throughout.
OK, this sounds glib and superficial but what I see now in the USA is many, many people doing everything they can to stay asleep, spiritually and emotionally. Well, this is usual, but history and fate have given the USA the “rope to hang itself with”. No invasions, no famines, no plagues (a few hurricanes and earthquakes) and vast, vast wealth to burrow down under in denial, lots of drugs which numb but don’t paralyze. No need for social solidarity.
It is a country that bombs weddings etc, at a distance, with no accountability by man (certainly not Ban Ki Moon) or nature. The schools don’t teach, the hospitals don’t heal, the police do not protect, the government does not govern; yet the band plays on and on, as the bridges crumble and yet another foreign war begins.
In a sense, G-d has turned his face away from the USA because the worst thing is His silence. “We are great because we are good.” The platitudes issued from the mainstream churches in His name, the lack of true dialog and worse, much worse, the casting of our own inner demons by our leadership onto others gives proof of a vast inner wasteland paralleling the boarded homes and crumbling factories of the Mid West.
The only thing missing is a fact-check from the rest of the world unless… unless the American people do begin to wake up. Archangel Gabriel sounds the trumpet – arise!
appreciate comment , and good comment by teranim too ,was selected mods.
Thank you.
Thanks teranam13 for summarizing the inner faults behind the Hollywood scenery of the life in the US. The sad thing is, that these kind “life style” has expanded throughout the world, with only small parts being untouched. But for how long ? will something change in the better in the near future ? can we see the light at the end of the tunnel ? or we’ll see the light of something different… whatever will be, at the end I am optimistic that we shall find our way Home.
Oh, my soul, you’re now frightened and on prone
Please, you, God of Love, don’t let us now alone
We need your Light, lead our way to find our Home !
Teranam13, while I find your poetry moving and expressive, I find your prose to be so powerful, evocative. I walk with you, live alongside you, as you express your thoughts. I’m drawn in completely. This is another example of that. Thanks for sharing your wisdom, insight and talent. And you should write your memoirs, IMO!!
This is not dissimilar to the sweeping view of Russians a typical brainwashed American would have.
One to many generalisation is the most dangerous of logical fallacies and it affects even the learned.
America is still home to many things good. So is Russia.
Unfortunately in the age of extraordinary amount of information, bad news is sensationalising and is used to get attention.
So it has a disproportional influence.
Nostalgia for things of past is ever present i.e. a 60 year old in 1950 would romanticize her 12 year old days. Memory plays tricks and facts are remembered in such a way to preserve the integrity of the story of the self of the protagonist carefully constructed over many years.
Be vigilant. Be sharp in wit. Be kind.
The one generalizing and drawing false equivalents is you.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but no one, anywhere in the world, has ever said anything as obscene as “x is great, because x is good”.
That takes a particular sort of evil. And when you pause to think that it was said by the probable next President of the US, you should start digging your grave or a fallout shelter.
Here is the statement from my comment:
“America is still home to many things good. So is Russia.”
That is as clinically correct as it can get. No mention of “greatness” about either America or Russia.
And you managed to get vitriolic in your reply :)
Bubble? What bubble?!
Jesus Christ spoke of a day in which the nation’s of the world would be judged. “Woe unto you Bethsaida and Chorazin. ..he intoned,..it will be worse for you in the day of judgment than for Sodom and Gamorah..” Worse ..why? Because of the witness they had,..Truth incarnate – the Lord in their midst. These cities considered themselves to be righteous because of their religious activities. ..Just like the USA today. …the do gooders perpetuating a mythology of American greatness, patting themselves vigorously on the back.. However not unlike the Roman citizens in Italy who still bask in a civilization long gone.. so are our good works and our commendable standing. This article poignantly compares in metaphor the empty deteriorated cities.. worn empty structures …ghosts of what was, and is no more, except in the imagination of the blind, deaf and dumb. . Pew sitters.. getting all their news of abroad from the US stateside perps.. their sermons from pulpits whose mission remains to perpetuate the myth…