My daughter, usually a very generous person, questioned the need to send aid to Japan the other day.\u00a0 Her basis was all of the trouble in our own country should be taken care of first.\u00a0 She had a point, but I made a bigger one, and she acquiesce fairly easily that Japan needed and deserved our help.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The world is changing.\u00a0 Countries’ borders are fuzzing, after a fashion.\u00a0 My roommate, Sam, and I both interact with friends from Australia.\u00a0 We consider our respective friends there to be close friends, even though we have never met and likely never will meet them in person.\u00a0 We have gotten to know them as if they were neighbors living down the street.\u00a0 I have, over the last decade or two, had other acquaintances from around the world.\u00a0 Some have been on a purely professional basis, but I have interacted socially with a few on the internet.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
These relationships, I believe, are the first steps towards globalization.\u00a0 The world has always been a community on a grand scale, but in the last few decades that community has become more closely knit.\u00a0 Democratic ideals are slowly spreading, in no small part (I believe) thanks to relationships like the ones Sam and I have established with international friends.\u00a0 Look at the recent shake up in Egypt.\u00a0 The people of the country, having interacted with Americans and others with democratic leanings over the internet, rose up in rebellion over the government’s attempt to move away from democracy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So yes, we have issues here in America.\u00a0 People are starving, they are lacking education, they need medical care they aren’t likely to receive.\u00a0 There are many problems here which could use a bigger infusion of financial support.\u00a0 However, I favor a policy of foreign domesticity, where the problems of distant lands are seen as our own problems.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Japan, prior to the quake, had the same problems we do, after all.\u00a0 They had poverty-stricken areas, they had their own groups of people looking for food, education and medical care.\u00a0 The numbers were much smaller than those of the U.S., but they were there.\u00a0 Now, on top of that, they have the troubles this terrible earthquake has brought.\u00a0 Yes, we have these issues in America, but we don’t have cities with ninety-percent of the town in ruins and half the population missing and likely dead.\u00a0 The ninety-percent part is probably a generous estimate, judging from some of the photos of some of the nation’s communities.\u00a0 The other estimate is pretty close to accurate; I have heard of at least two different cities of a population of around twenty-thousand where around ten-thousand were missing and likely killed in the quake or its tsunamic aftermath.\u00a0 Reports of hundred of bodies being found have been coming through the press.\u00a0 The death toll is over thirty-three hundred and still rising.\u00a0 The prime minister has likened the disaster to the atomic bombings of World War II.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
So yes, we have economic issues here, but Japan’s problems right now are far worse.\u00a0 They need and, in my opinion, deserve our aid.\u00a0 Let us not hesitate to show them we’re their close friends who happen to live far away.\u00a0 Perhaps if we demonstrate an attitude foreign domesticity enough, the world will become more unified.\u00a0 I have hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My daughter, usually a very generous person, questioned the need to send aid to Japan the other day.\u00a0 Her basis was all of the trouble in our own country should be taken care of first.\u00a0 She had a point, but I made a bigger one, and she acquiesce fairly easily that Japan needed and deserved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=406"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408,"href":"http:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406\/revisions\/408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.shadowkatmandu.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}