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Kudos to Our Man in America who inspires reflection
By Greg Cusack |
January 1, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
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IF one of the signs of a good journalist is that his writings provoke reflection and elicit comment, then Mr Wan Lixin is succeeding. I continue to find his observations both interesting and revealing.
His latest column, which appeared in my Kindle edition, began with observations about America's decline in church-going, and then swerved into ruminations about how rapaciously many of our earliest settlers were with regard to native Americans and the bounty of this continent's incredible resources.
Permit me to comment on each theme, beginning with the second first, less to dispute than to elaborate.
The historical record of the United States, like those of all countries, is undoubtedly mixed. The same republic that produced the admirable words of our Declaration of Independence and the genius of our Constitution, also was stained - from its earliest days - by the enslavement of black people and near genocide of the American Indian peoples.
China, too, also suffered from its "cultural revolution" (1966-76) and "Great Leap Forward" movement.
Russia and Germany are great countries but their pictures are also mixed.
If we all were a bit more aware of our own shortcomings, and less focused on those of other nations, perhaps we would have less nationalistic nonsense in our world.
The United States is not the only place in the world where we are wrestling with "exceptionalism," or suffer the consequences of being blind and deaf to what others do or say.
It is undeniable that there is a "moral vacuum" in the US today. Too many of our people loudly proclaim that they are "believers" of one type or another, and are quick to apply critical judgment on others, while apparently exhibiting little evidence of introspection and the embarrassing truths that might reveal.
There is a genuine spiritual hunger in our land, too, a search for goodness, truth, and common humanity.
It is my hope that this latter impulse, coupled with the friendship and understanding of other peoples (such as in your own beautiful land), may help us together grow beyond smallness, distrust, and misunderstanding into a more peace-filled, cooperative world.
My admiration again for your fine newspaper, and continued best wishes to Mr Wan Lixin.
His latest column, which appeared in my Kindle edition, began with observations about America's decline in church-going, and then swerved into ruminations about how rapaciously many of our earliest settlers were with regard to native Americans and the bounty of this continent's incredible resources.
Permit me to comment on each theme, beginning with the second first, less to dispute than to elaborate.
The historical record of the United States, like those of all countries, is undoubtedly mixed. The same republic that produced the admirable words of our Declaration of Independence and the genius of our Constitution, also was stained - from its earliest days - by the enslavement of black people and near genocide of the American Indian peoples.
China, too, also suffered from its "cultural revolution" (1966-76) and "Great Leap Forward" movement.
Russia and Germany are great countries but their pictures are also mixed.
If we all were a bit more aware of our own shortcomings, and less focused on those of other nations, perhaps we would have less nationalistic nonsense in our world.
The United States is not the only place in the world where we are wrestling with "exceptionalism," or suffer the consequences of being blind and deaf to what others do or say.
It is undeniable that there is a "moral vacuum" in the US today. Too many of our people loudly proclaim that they are "believers" of one type or another, and are quick to apply critical judgment on others, while apparently exhibiting little evidence of introspection and the embarrassing truths that might reveal.
There is a genuine spiritual hunger in our land, too, a search for goodness, truth, and common humanity.
It is my hope that this latter impulse, coupled with the friendship and understanding of other peoples (such as in your own beautiful land), may help us together grow beyond smallness, distrust, and misunderstanding into a more peace-filled, cooperative world.
My admiration again for your fine newspaper, and continued best wishes to Mr Wan Lixin.
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