by Ellen Rhudy
Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Americans have become understandably wary of the rest of the world. We view foreigners as dangers to the United States, as possible terrorists; and while there is not anything inherently wrong about being wary of people from the rough area where the September 11 terrorists emerged from, there is something wrong about adopting such an isolationist viewpoint of the world that we are unable to think of Middle-Easterners without referring to them as "towel heads" or similar. Such an attitude can only hurt efforts to bring the world closer together and to eliminate terrorism and weapons of mass destruction; the only way to heal our wounds, to eliminate the dangerous weapons that have brought so much heartache to the world, is to take the time and effort to become truly aware of one another as a people; to make a conscious effort to be kind and open to each other's cultures.
American pop culture, largely in TV and music, touches all parts of the world. People in Europe, Asia, and even, to some slight extent, the same countries we are at war against-Iraq, Afghanistan-view American TV shows and from those shows derive their opinions of Americans. When presented with the concept that shows like Sex and the City and The Sopranos are forming Middle Easterners' opinions about the United States, Americans tend to scoff; if they cannot take the time to understand Americans as a whole, rather than our TV shows, why should we concern ourselves with them? And further, why is it that these people are getting their ideas of Americans only from TV shows, and not from real, down-to-earth Americans, the majority of whom are not mobsters and do not live the life of Carrie on Sex and the City?
The answer is simple. Americans are not making the effort to connect with people outside of America. Americans, despite living in an occasionally imperialistic country, have adopted an isolationist mindset when dealing with the rest of the world. The only way to make the rest of the world understand Americans is for Americans to first understand the rest of the world; after all, Americans have for years had a tremendous impact on world events, both in war and in pop culture, and have made little effort to understand, say, Israel's pop culture, or even to learn a foreign language.
As a superpower, America and Americans have become lax in foreign policy. And, while many would view foreign policy only as the decisions the higher-ups make regarding war, foreign policy in fact extends even to learning languages in grade school. While most students in European countries begin to learn foreign languages in the equivalent of kindergarten, and while English is a second language in many countries, American students are often required only to take two years of a language while in high school. And while it's bad enough that only two years of a foreign language are required, when others around the world are making such an effort to learn English, these foreign language classes come at such a late date that the majority of students are unable to absorb the new language in the two years they are required to study it. Could studying something so simple as foreign languages really have that great an effect on America's dealings with the Mid-East? The answer, simply, is yes. By studying a foreign language students are also studying a foreign culture; by studying a foreign culture, students are coming to understand and respect that culture. Were American schools to integrate foreign language classes into all grades from kindergarten up, American students would rapidly emerge as one of the most open-minded and knowledgeable generations this country has seen-so knowledgeable they would recognize how important respect is to a healthy world.
And that is the key word when it comes to world peace: respect. Americans need to learn to step down from the privileged worldview they've grown up with and simply look on other cultures with respect and interest. Too many people are quick to judge when it comes to foreign cultures; because these cultures have different styles of dress, have different types of music, have different ideals of beauty, many immediately assume that these cultures are further down on the evolutionary scale than are Americans. This is, patently, untrue.
This view is not a recent one, but it is a more prevalent once since September 11. Americans have begun to group all Middle Easterners in the same category as "terrorists." If a person has a darker skin, is Muslim, or bears any of the characteristics of a Middle Easterner, he is immediately viewed with fear and revulsion because it was "his people" who carried out the World Trade Center attacks. It is "his people" who are, by President Bush's reports, planning to attack America again.
But an entire culture cannot be viewed as one person-a mistake often made by Americans. In fact, while most Americans find the idea that anyone could believe all Americans are like the family on The Sopranos ridiculous they have no qualms about viewing all Iraqis as the same people who carried out the September 11 attacks. In order to change others' views of Americans, Americans must first change their views of others. How to do this? By travel, research, providing aid to those who need it. There would be no terrorist attacks without the level of desperation that grips those in the Mid-East; there wouldn't be such fear of terrorist attacks if Americans, rather than buying a new pair of pants or a new DVD, donated money (or even better, their time and expertise) to helping Middle Easterners who may need that help. In effect, the way to cease the building of weapons of mass destruction, to end terrorist attacks, is to work through the "trickle up" effect: to help those at the bottom, those who need it most, and let this help, this kind view of Americans, trickle up to the country's government so that neither the citizens of a country nor the government would have any desire to harm Americans, or indeed—with luck—anyone, whether they be British, French, Chinese, and so on. America is the strongest country in the world, with more money than other country, and it is the duty of America to use this power and this money to positively effect changes in the world.
Of course, money is not the only solution to the problems currently gripping the world. Person-to-person contact is necessary to build a kinder view of Americans. Rather than remaining within the United States, rather than traveling only within the United States, Americans should take "working vacations" abroad; a sort of Peace Corps on a smaller scale, with people staying in a country a few weeks or months rather than years. The fact of the matter is that Americans who have Muslim friends, or who have had positive interactions with Muslims, tend not to discriminate against Muslims on the basis of their religion or country of origin. By the same token, a Muslim who had had positive experiences with an American would tend to view Americans more kindly than one who had only had negative experiences of America and viewed Americans as a war-mongering, close-minded people. (A view that would not, unfortunately, be too far off the mark.)
In order to have world peace, Americans must take the first step. We have already spent far too long insisting that it is the duty of other countries to pander to America in an attempt for our kindness; our kindness should be provided freely and without restraint to all those who will accept it. Americans are not a cruel people; no country is composed of cruel people. The world is made of people who have dreams and hopes and goals, and while they may have lost these hopes and dreams along the way, while they may feel they have no hope of achieving their dreams (and perhaps those dreams are of world peace-and perhaps those dreams should not be lost, need not be lost) they are people all the same, people like Americans who deserve those basic human rights of sympathy and empathy. For peace, Americans must take the first step; for peace, Americans must be brave and extend themselves, their ears and their minds and their hearts, to anyone who is willing to share his concerns with a fellow concerned citizen of this world. Americans must recognize that whatever a person's age, class, color, religion, they are all equal and all deserve to be treated as humans, whatever we may think in the seconds we touch each of these people. For we do touch these people, and all people, you and I included, recognize and appreciate even the slightest attempt to understand where we have come from and where we are going and where we are at the moment, and why we are here.
For peace, Americans must learn what it means to be human. Americans must learn what it means to be a citizen of this earth. And with that understanding, that empathy, that new knowledge about fellow citizens of this earth, Americans must bravely step forward, not with weapons on their body or waiting in America, but unarmed. Americans must step forward, hold themselves out and say: "I am here. I care. I am listening." And then, Americans must do as they say, and they must be open, and they must listen.
Ms Rhudy, a senior at Clearview Regional High School, also wrote the winning essay for the 2003 Helen Glass Essay for Peace Contest.
Last modified: Saturday, June 26, 2004 at 05:30 PM