Dark Bilious Vapors

I lived overseas for a year during Reagan's reign. It was much easier to see how awful his presidency was from Sierra Leone. It is only all these many years later that I realize how desperate people (Americans) have been to feel good about themselves, even if it means believing in lies. We claim the moral high ground without having done any of the work since, I would guess, World War II. We want to believe that we would only go to war under the most noble of flags when in fact the "freedom" we are fighting for is another illusion - when my parents' generation responded to the demands of world war it was with a preparedness to sacrifice everything. Now, if we have to pay 10 cents more at the pump to fill the tank on our Suburban we flame with indignation at the people or country "responsible" for attacking our way of life. We are willing to send our neighbor's kids over there to protect it, too. Never mind that the American way of life is insupportable economically and ecologically and impossible to justify on a global scale. I have never been so ashamed of being an American. We are a lunatic people; we are mad, greedy, and shortsighted. We are deluded and want to stay that way.
--Mary Arenberg, M.D.

Len on 06.25.04 @ 06:53 AM CST