Prayer

And now we come to the end... It's been quite the semester. I have learned quite a lot about our society, and have formed relationships with some of its newest members. I am now about to step out of the bubble of my private Christian liberal arts school, and into the world of the rich and the poor, the homeless and the mansion-dwellers, the hungry and the over-fed, the successful, the hopeful, the well-established... and the failures, the hopeless, and the immigrants. I will graduate from a hugely expensive university with little but a tiny scrap of paper to show for it (which society tells me that I need), and the learning which that paper represents (which is of much more value. Priceless, in fact).
America, to me, means consumerism, a house in the suburbs, and a life in the rat race. It also means exploitation of the 3rd world, atrocities carried out in the name of democracy, and a military force larger than that of the rest of the world combined. Sorry for the judgment and cynicism. I realize that other countries would probably be no better if they had as much power as we... All of that to say; I think the best way to end this series of blogs is with a prayer.

May God lead us away from arrogance and hypocrisy and towards humility. May God give us the strength to give up our greed and spread the wealth to those who truly need it. May America give up the idolatry of Nationalism and instead seek the God of Truth who shows up in the faces of our brothers and sisters all over the world. May we move away from individualism and toward community, building relationships of love with those we used to ignore or despise. May we pull away from our television sets long enough to recognize and respond to the ill-effects of the non-committal sex and mindless violence with which our culture is unhealthily saturated. May we be a people who seek justice for the poor and helpless. May we learn to love laughter and peace. May we lead the way in laying down our weapons (or turning them into farm equipment). May my skepticism be proven wrong.
Amen.

Complications

Where do your clothes come from? Do you know who made them? Do you know in what country they were made? Do you know how much each seamstress, each weaver, each spinner was paid? Do you know what their working conditions were like? Do you know how old these workers were? Were they children or adults? Were they getting enough to eat? Were their basic needs being met?

What computer are you using to view this blog? Do you know where each of the parts came from? Do you know where the plastics were made? Where the metals were mined? Where the minerals were extracted? Do you know who the miners were? The ore-smelterers? The factory-workers? Were they paid fairly? Was the ore obtained legally? Was it mined in a war-zone? Were the profits used to pay for weapons? Drugs? Where is your computer going to end up after you are done with it?

Consumerism is Complicated.

Kill, Kill, Kill!

by: Lia

I finally watched Bowling for Columbine the other day, and let me say, I was quite disturbed.  The topic wasn’t really anything new to me, it just brought up a lot of emotions.

The movie addressed the school shooting that occurred at Columbine High School where two teenage boys came to school with guns and shot a whole bunch of students. Many students were severely injured and some were even killed.

At one point in the movie it went through many different wars the United States was involved in and showed people that had died because of the United States’ involvement. This is the list that I copied down:

• 1953: U.S. overthrows Prime Minister Mossadeq of Iran. U.S. installs Shah as dictator.

• 1954: U.S. overthrows democratically-elected President Arbenz of Guatemala. 200,000 civilians killed.

• 1963: U.S. backs assassination of South Vienamese President Diem.

• 1963-1975: American military kills 4 million people in Southeast Asia.

• September 11, 1973: U.S. stages coup in Chile, Democratically-elected President Salvador Allende assassinated. Dictator Augusto Pinochet installed. 5,000 Chileans murdered.

• 1977: U.S. backs military rulers in El Salvador. 70,000 Salvadorans and four American nuns killed.

• 1980's: U.S. trains Osama bin Laden and fellow terrorists to kill Soviets. CIA gives them $3 billion.

• 1981: Reagan administration trains and funds "contras." 30,000 Nicaraguans die.

• 1982: U.S. provides billions in aid to Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians.

• 1983: White House secretly gives Iran weapons to kill Iraqis.

• 1989: CIA agent Manuel Noriega (also serving as President of Panama) disobeys orders from Washington. U.S. invades Panama and removes Noriega. 3,000 Panamanian civilian casualties.

• 1990: Iraq invades Kuwait with weapons from U.S.

• 1991: U.S. enters Iraq. Bush reinstates dictator of Kuwait.

• 1998: Clinton bombs "weapons factory" in Sudan. Factory turns out to be making aspirin.

• 1991 to present (?): American planes bomb Iraq on a weekly basis. U.N. estimates 500,000 Iraqi children die from bombing and sanctions.

• 2000-2001: U.S. gives Taliban-ruled Afghanistan $245 million in "aid."

• Sept. 11, 2001: Osama bin Laden uses his expert CIA training to murder 3,000 people.

How much money would we have saved from the deficit if we hadn't been so gung-ho about war and funding other groups to be better at killing more people?

We teach Americans that it's okay to go to other countries and massacre everyone, because they are "bad," but then we turn around and think we can punish people here for murdering someone. We don’t understand when teenagers come to a school and kill people. How does that make sense? How can't people see that it's the same thing?

I go between being saddened to enraged that people could be so heartless and cruel with no remorse, just killing and somehow justifying it!

No matter where we come from we are all human beginnings with lives, and families, and hopes, and dreams, and fears. How can we justify killing another person, no matter where they came from or what they did?

It hurts me to think that we are capable of such horrific things, then rationalizing the killing, that is unless it’s someone here in the U.S. killings another U.S. citizen. Why are our lives somehow more important than those in other countries?

Would America still be America without War?

by: Sarah

I'm driving through town and I see an American flag at half mast. Why? The word on the street is that a soldier died today. Someone local. There is a sense of mourning and heaviness in those words. Even if I didn't know him, I feel this loss.

How many bumper stickers have you seen on the topic of war. Cafepress has 38,800 war related bumper stickers for sale. When was the last time you bought a newspaper that didn't have at least one article on the topic of war? Google "Support our troops merchandise" This is making money. One website even has a "Patriotic Gazebo Decorating Kit"

What would happen if ever our country wasn't at war? There is so much time and money spent on war endeavors from the national level to little jelly bracelets saying, "Support our Troops". Where would all that money go? What would we do with all that time and energy? Is war at the heart of America?

John Lennon sang "All we are saying, is give peace a chance" . But what if we actually did? Brush aside all those doubts of if that could ever happen and think about it for a moment. We have such a momentum on the topic of war. What if that topic no longer existed. What would we talk about? Write about? Make bracelets and gazebo decorating kits about?

Would we need to redefine "America"? What would you say?

A Loaded Question

by: Lia

What does it mean to be an American? Wow, what a question. Being an American can mean so many different things... it just depends on who you ask.

I am sure there are a lot of people around the world who might not have anything too pleasant to say about Americans. Heck, there are a lot of Americans who don't have anything good to say about Americans.

I must say... When the majority of the class voted on this topic I was disappointed. I thought, "Who cares about being an American? I'd rather learn about any other culture..."

In many ways I am ashamed to call myself an American. All that we have done to others through war (in the name of freedom, but in actuality because of our greed) just makes me sick. Other countries may have corrupt governments, but at least they are open to the fact; not hiding it and pretending things are one way when they're not.

I get that we should count our blessings; that we have democracy and all the freedoms that accompany it (but do we really?). We talk about equality like it's something that we have attained; but we haven't... not for the African Americans, the Latinos, the Asians, and women in general, regardless of race.

It's easy for someone (especially someone who is Caucasian) to be blinded to the sufferings of people they don't usually come in contact with. It is especially easy to be in your own little bubble as a college student; thinking the world is just peachy, and that in America we are free.

Well I have news for you: We have a LONG way to go people... and if you think we don't, then I want to encourage you to truly open your eyes and look around.