Rare Political-Type Post

I realize I usually avoid politics like the plague here. Not because I am afraid of anyone disagreeing with me. I really couldn’t care less about that, and actually, sometimes I learn new things, even from people on the polar opposite of the political tract from me.
However, all this bickering regarding the tsunami relief effort has really stuck in my craw. First of all, I am really irritated by the U.N. representative that called the United States stingy. Who the heck does he think he is, anyway? I mean, WTF – did anyone expect Bush to immediately dash into a phone booth, then jump out wearing spandex and cape with a big-assed “W” on his chest?
OK, I admit at first I was kind of confused as to why Bush hadn’t responded immediately, and then why it seemed we were sending so little money. But looking at it now it seemed that a wait and see approach, while perhaps not practical or well-thought out, was certainly plausible and not necessarily a sign that we were going to sit back and watch so many people suffer. I am not sure it was immediately clear to anyone just how horrifying this tragedy was going to become. Sure, he should have maybe spoken out, gotten the ball rolling faster, but he didn’t, and we don’t know what is going on in his mind, so to second guess and bicker and formulate and pull the old “blame the US” card is just counterproductive.
But then I have an issue with Bush suddenly going from giving $35 million to an incredible $350 million, with more coming. It was almost as if that U.N guy had told Bush he had a tiny penis, so Bush went on a penis enlargement buying spree and is now wayyyy overcompensating. And all the sudden everyone is supposed to jump on the bandwagon of “his” relief effort. Umm…hello? The whole WORLD is giving, not just the US. And according to those who feel the need to keep score, apparently the US is still giving less per capita than most other countries. Damn, just can’t please everyone, can you? A happy medium may have been sufficient.
I feel so much for these people. I cried when I saw their suffering. My heart goes out to them. I want to help. But what I want to do and what I can do are two different things. And I feel it is the same with our country. Yes, we should help others, but we are not the healers of the entire world. We can’t even heal ourselves internally. I’m not saying to sit back and become completely uninvolved, I am saying that things HERE need to be fixed just as desperately as things elsewhere. There is such an outpouring of compassion for those other countries, and rightly so, but the same compassion does not seem to apply here in this country. Everything about the US is all goodness and light and if the US had a butt, roses and monkeys would fly out of it, so how could anyone living here be unhappy or destitute or homeless of hopeless or helpless, right? It’s their own fault if they are that way because this is the land of the FREE! Everyone has the same opportunity, and as long as I have mine, forget them because they just aren’t doing what they are supposed to do! Bullshit. Look out your own window for those hopeless, homeless, dying people. And put away your own stereotypes about how they got there and help figure out how to get them OUT of that situation. Because THAT is the only way for this country to continue to be one of the greatest in the world. And so you know, I have BEEN one of those homeless, hopeless people, along with my children. I have dealt with the prejudice, the contempt, the beauracracy, the endless cycle of step up two steps, fall back one. I am still there. I know what the hell I am talking about.
In the end, it’s the people who are suffering that matter, not some stupid pissing contest between the world’s countries over who gave more or who is the bigger humanitarian or who is the bigger nut job or who has the bigger virtual penis (bomb). Just shut up already.
I make it no secret I am not a Bush fan, but you know, dammit, you aren’t going to like everyone you come into contact with in life, and sometimes those people you don’t like get into positions of leadership, and those of us NOT in those positions need to just suck it up and deal and figure out how to live with it and where we want things to go from there and how we can affect the changes that we would like to happen. I am very grateful to live in a country where (for now at least) I can voice my opinions and do something to make a change. And that change should start from within.