So…. did you vote (if you had the opportunity)?!? Pennsylvania’s primary isn’t until April, so I haven’t had the opportunity yet….but it doesn’t mean that I’m not following the proceedings closely from my little house in Peru. It seems like many of the undecided votes are going to Obama, and judging by Georgia, we might be in for a more decisive election than I had thought possible…
In any case, this might be a bit premature, but I keep flashing back to the last election (not primary, actual election), when I had just returned from a year in many countries listening to such a diverse and yet harmonious collection of voices. As I will be this next election, I was in Hershey, feeling overwhelmed by the beliefs of those around me, and yet still rebelliously and naively, it turns out, hopeful.
We are lucky to be where we are. Go out and vote to make the change you believe in.
Flashback Post…
What it feels like to be so wrong
Posted by: sural in Back in the U.S.A 2005*note: not everyone i met expressed the opinions below; there was certainly quite a range, and almost always appreciation of some facet(s) of our country…and almost never were these opinions given in a hostile or threatening way, just critically. The vast majority of these opinions came from friends.
In today’s NYTimes, there’s an op-ed on President Bush’s inauguration, and more significantly on the world view on our country’s re-election of this man. Reading the opinions written by the author, I found myself nodding in agreement and even murmuring “yeah” and “exactly” to myself (it’s 2:30 am and I’m the only person in the library’s entire computer lab right now…so, i suppose the behavior is a little excusable!). Long ago (or so it seems…really about 18 months ago), I found myself in Switzerland working at the World Health Organization. As one might imagine, my co-workers in many cases were either (a) European (and thus particularly likely to be more left than the average American); (b) not American (and thus likely to be more left than the average American); (c) interested in health and human rights (and thus likely to be more left than the average American); or (d) some combination of the above. Suffice it to say that they were generally strong opposers of Bush and, in many cases, of Americans as a whole….variations on the theme of “I dislike America” included:
“I dislike America.”
“I dislike Americans.”
“America(ns) is/are selfish, materialistic and/or arrogant .”
“I dislike your country, but not the individual people–I love you!”
“I dislike your government.”
“I dislike Americans because they do not think about others. The whole world should get to vote in your elections.”
“I dislike your government, but I realize that people only have so much control over their governments and so I do not dislike you.”Observation: The comments often strongly reflected the individual’s own background. For example, those in countries where people have a stronger influence on their government were much likelier to avoid the last phrasing and to select “I dislike Americans” as their argument of choice, often directly associating Americans with the then current American administration. However, people in countries such as India and Brazil, which are both embracing capitalism and addressing corruption in their own countries, almost always expressed themselves with the last phrase.
I’ve never been one to wave the flag of patriotism with much vigor, but after a number of rather sharp attacks on my American background and the country’s politics despite my openness about my own criticisms, defensiveness began to creep in… Rather than blindly defend our actions, however, I began to consider the actual matter at hand.
So…how to defend/explain away America/the American people’s selection of Bush and condoning of his behavior? Well, I tried several of the usual methods: the fear factor, the ignorance card (most Americans don’t pay attention beyond their own lives, let alone the lives of people by whom they may even feel threatened 1000’s of miles away–this encompasses lack of awareness, lack of depth of understanding and even lack of concern–depending on the day), the “big country/government with small individual [perception of] influence” theory…. in the end, I think I opted for a combination of the final explanation and the idea that we, the Americans, didn’t know what Bush would do. We hadn’t anticipated 9/11 upon electing him, and certainly not his response to the attack. I settled on this explanation, delivered in soothing, empathetic tones designed to both calm the inquirer and head off further discussion as well as to express my own sympathy to their frustration with my government’s actions. Perhaps surprisingly, it generally worked…particularly in countries like Brazil where the distinction between the government and its people is well understood.
Even more surprising, maybe, is that the explanation began to work on me, as well. The silent message to all of that was as follows: “just wait, we’ll redeem ourselves when we get a choice to express how we feel about the last four years–we’re good people and we agree!” In November, I had been home for approximately 3.5 months and for all of my efforts to support Kerry, I don’t think I ever changed my belief that we would right our wrong and elect Kerry. I believed that America would redeem itself. A few friends from abroad sent me emails half-jokingly commenting on how the Americans had better come through for the world, and that I’d better have done my part to ensure a Kerry victory, especially in my own home swing state of PA (yes, people abroad are aware of the intricacies of our election process), and I laughed, certain we would. When PA went blue, I nodded silently, “of course PA went blue,” despite the fact that where I attend medical school was very red…perhaps that should have been my first sign. When it all came down, I was stunned, much more so than those European/non-American/justice-seeking friends who had been suspicious of Americans all along. And instead of me being the one nodding knowingly, it was them, not just silently, but also vocally confirming their opinions of not only our country’s government, but of its people.
Perhaps a bit ineffectively, I sent apologies for the significance of the election (because, as the article’s writer says, it affects them as much as us–only they don’t get a say), but this time I didn’t offer explanation. I know I’m not anti-American…I know many of these people who turned the Hershey area red; they are friends, mentors, colleagues. They are not ignorant or materialistic or arrogant people. And perhaps for this reason, in my letters, I didn’t broach the topic which was so bothersome to me… less of how had I been so wrong about my fellow Americans– countless people have discussed this idea since well before the election even occurred– than of what being wrong means…
….thoughts for the next entry (for now, there’s an exam in 27 hours and I need to study… :-P)…
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