It's a Small, Small World

I no longer see the world as a ride at Disney World. I did at one time. I also grew up thinking the world wanted to be like America. Imagine my disillusionment at finding out we're far from being the world's golden child of a country. Admittedly, I came from a small town in the US with a small town mentality. Fate doomed me to be a Sally Simpleton, but I decided some time ago that the world was beyond my window and that we would all be better for learning about it and from it.

There are things I hate about the US too. Most of what I hate stems from our country's legacy of bigotry and oppression. I've made it a lifelong avocation to think critically about first my own biases and then the biases of my surroundings to contribute to the cessation of the Jim Crow, dogmatist mentality we're so well-known for.

When I finally had the opportunity to leave the country to visit Europe, I came back having traded in my small town perspective for a world view. This world view was like a baby that had to be looked after and fed. I don't have any illusions that having visited two counties in Europe meant that I had now seen the world. What I did learn from talking with students from Poland and Denmark at the summer institute I was attending was that a) many Americans are extremely inward focused, b) our educational system is very far behind, and c) capitalism isn't so fabulous. I felt ashamed to be an American. I felt disgusted. I came back to the US with much contempt for my home and felt depressed.

I held onto that contempt for over a year. I'm letting go of that contempt for a couple of reasons. For one, it's unproductive. Secondly, I believe there is good in America. When I see the work of moveon, alternet, and the videos of the media that matters film festival which I've followed for three years I see the America I believe in. I'm proud that our country no longer has one face, one color, one voice. Yes, there's a lot of crap in America. There's a lot of crap everywhere, but what good is it going to do us to only dwell on crap?

Please watch the short films from Media that Matters at http://www.mediathatmattersfest.org/mtm05/