Politics. Schmolitics. America The NOT So Beautiful

As the Presidential election creeps closer to actual "D-Day" status, I sit and wonder what changes will be made after the decision has been made. If I had to venture out from my relatively independent standpoint, I’d support the politics and drive of the Democratic party. I have submitted my absentee ballot, begging and screaming to get President George W. Bush out of office. I’d love my home country more if it would stop making me look so bad. Depending on the results of this election, I might move to ex-patriate status, so I don’t have to deal with the ridiculous politics of my country.

Playground Politics

Three years ago, the United States was "rocked" by the terrorist attacks on September 11th. I remember the fear I felt while I was sitting at my desk working and hearing someone mention that "someone flew a plane into one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York City". Reading the updates on the internet, listening to the radio and watching TV made that day seem like something out of an apocalyspe themed movie. It couldn’t be real. It all sounded like a surreal joke, one of the ones in extremely poor taste that someone would say innocently, just to get your attention. I panicked not because I had family that was traveling at the time or relations working in the WTC in New York but because my parents lived close to Miami, Florida, home to one of the largest international airports in the US. My father was at work in Miami as all this was happening. I was so scared that something would have happened to him.

It was the trigger that the current leadership needed to initiate the air strike and military campaign it craved. Bush wanted to be the one to finish the mini-war his father started over a decade prior. The best tactic for the American populace was to revert to being five years old and "hit back the kids who hit us first". We couldn’t possibly be the more mature ones, lick our wounds and then go tell the teacher. No, that wouldn’t be strong or powerful enough. That wouldn’t communicate the message that America is invincible! We can’t maintain our Superman(1) image if we just "turn the other cheek" and move on. We can’t reassure the American people unless we strike back, and humiliate the people until they can feel the pain they have caused us. That’s the only way to make the playground fair, right?

Yeah, right. Unfortunately, that’s what kids are taught at school. The President is right. America is strong.

Black and White, but Red All Over

When I think back to Desert Storm, I remember being in the sixth grade. Everyone was trained into wearing yellow ribbons, Old Glory was posted everywhere, and patriotic melodies were being performed in special concerts. We were trained parrots. They brainwashed us into believing that the actions of our beloved Commander-in-Chief were not only essential but absolutely right. We were taught that America was not only beautiful but the strongest in the world. What makes that statement worse is that at 11 years old, you believe it. Very few 11 year olds would openly challenge the information bestowed upon them by their parents and teachers. Society believes that children are not "old enough" to understand the grayness between right and wrong. So to save time and effort and maintain the order, they just give black and white responses.

We were primarily shown the happy images of American soldiers helping frightened children, giving medical attention to civilians, and rebuilding the wreckage with big smiles on their faces. In junior high school, we barely picked up the newspaper or watched the news. Even in these places, where "freedom of press" was a guaranteed right under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, the images were being controlled. The government didn’t want the masses, especially the children of our country to see what was really happening behind the fake smiles. They didn’t want us to see those smiling soldiers shooting children our own age. They didn’t want to show us images of people suffering, bleeding, and dying at the hands of those sent to represent the United States. They didn’t want us to see where all the tax monies our parents were forced to pay were actually going. Money that could have been spent on improving our education system and helping to properly educate the future of the country about the terrors of violence and inform us about the situations of the world.

We had canned food and supplies drives at school to help support the families of those whom had a soldier overseas. We were told it was a good thing to help other people because these people were risking their lives to help improve the world and make it safe again. Kids from my classes would bring in food, even if their families were not well off because we were told "it’s the right thing to do." We would get upset when we would hear about "another fallen soldier" in battle, but we never thought about the people that we were fighting against. We became accustomed to turning a blind eye to the shadows and focus on the glories of the spotlight.

America the "Too Proud"

Over ten years later, those kids I went to junior high school with are now helping to sculpt the future of my country. However, many of them are never brave enough to challenge the education that they were given as children. Many of the boys I went to high school with promptly joined the military after high school. Some as a means to pay for their university education, while others did it to "see the world". When the discussion inevitably winds its way to opinions about politics and the "war on terrorism" with them, I refuse to continue the discussion with them. I don’t want to think about what could happen to them if they are called to active duty, nor do I want to think what they could be ordered to do to other people just by someone telling them so. I don’t want to think about possibly saying "good-bye" to them forever if they were to be killed in the line of duty. They know how passionate I can be about issues that I feel strongly about, so they respect my desire not to waste limited time on arguing.

Politics has been a topic of discussion that has been banned in my own household. My parents, though they are very liberal, support the actions of the government in response to 9/11. The last thing anyone wanted was Christmas dinner being disrupted with a heated discussion about war. None of us wanted a revival of a Thanksgiving a few years prior(2). I have my opinions and my family has theirs. They are very similar on topics like reproductive rights, marriage, and education issues, but when it comes to war, they are extremely different. It still surprises how I went to Hiroshima in March. I was so surprised at how big of a city it was. I had a beautiful time enjoying the food and seeing the castle. My primary reason for venturing to Hiroshima was to see the Peace Park. I was having an amazing time in Hiroshima until I saw the skeleton of the Atomic Bomb Dome. The images posted nearby showing the place where I stood and everything around it leveled for kilometers knocked the wind out of me. I started crying and I couldn’t stop. I was emotional. I was angry. It was the first time I passionately and vocally admitted to hating my own country. I shouldn’t be welcomed in Japan after seeing what my blessed, invicible America did to Hiroshima. I shouldn’t have the amazing life filled with all the happiness that I have been given. I didn’t deserve to be standing on Japanese soil. No American did. Yet, the people I work with take care of me like I am one of their own. My students talk and laugh with me. I have Japanese friends who I can confide my secrets in. They don’t blame me for what my country did to theirs approximately sixty years ago. The Japanese people will never forget the tragedy, but they are mature enough to know that I am not to blame for it.

The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, though still suffering from the effects of atomic bombs, were able to rebuild their cities into thriving metropolises. The people of those places were truly phoenixes rising up from the ashes. Yes, lives were lost in both New York and Washington DC, but all America lost were a couple of buildings. The people of Japan lost entire cities and the surrounding regions were ravaged as well. The American people should be grateful that the terrorists were kind enough not to drop atomic bombs on NYC and DC. America would have been severely crippled if that were the case, as two of the largest cities of the country would have been annihilated, our financial center (NYC) and our political center (DC). Perhaps if that were the case, then we would have been justified in storming into Iraq and turning the place upside down, but even then, I don’t think the "an eye for an eye" approach to battle is necessarily the smartest. It takes us down to their level. Such actions don’t make us right. It just makes us look stupid, childish, and "trigger happy". Why can’t the American people pick up the pieces and move on like the people of Japan?

How I Fight the War

It’s difficult being a representative of my country to my entire school and the larger community. Many students and teachers ask me "Why does America do such things to people?" I see the fear in their eyes and their genuine concern for the war. I think they ask me because they feel I am capable of answering their questions, but I feel so inadequate to do so. I honestly don’t know why the American goverment feels it is necessary to actively pursue violence. I don’t know why they think it’s right to slaughter people in the name of "justice" and claim that they are doing it to liberate the oppressed people of the world. My students ask me their questions and express their opinions in journals, letters, or in conversation. They ask me, "What do you think about this problem, Karen?" I tell them the truth. I tell them my honest feelings. I don’t agree with what my country is doing. I hate my country’s leadership for what they are doing to people in Iraq. It disgusts me that they are manipulating the media to maintain control of popular opinion domestically. I try to show people that I am not the same as the "gun-toting cowboys" overseas who firmly believe they are doing the right thing. I can’t be a stereotypical American(3).

I have a larger role as a representative of my home country. I feel it’s necessary to teach my students about diversity. I want to show them that I am not scary. I want to show them that America can be beautiful. My friends in Tottori say "Karen, you are Japanese on the inside." It makes me laugh because I think they are right.

Footnotes

1. Christopher Reeve (1952-2004) Rest in Peace.
2. I made the mistake of making an innocent but offensive comment about a dish my (vegetarian) sister prepared. "It’s missing something. It needs meat." This drove her into her room, grabbing her report on slaughter houses, and handing it to me at the dinner table. Let’s just say, the issue about meat/vegetarian dishes was never addressed again.
3. I feel like I am cheating those whom I teach because I represent America, however, I do not fit the mold properly. I don’t have ice in my veins. I don’t own a gun. I think independently. I don’t want war. I don’t think the government is right. I don’t think America is safe.