This is the story of R. The other day I an R were talking when American aggression against Iraq and Afghanistan came up in our debate. Now we both consider politics as something beyond resurrection, so we prefer talking about us rather than finding meaning to what the biggies do. Soon R said, “I don’t like what US does, I mean, it does whatever it likes,” (US is an “it” for us) “bomb anything, kill anyone, and that too for bullshitty reasons.”
“Right”, I said.
Five seconds of silence and R speaks again “But somehow I also admire US. It can do what it likes.”
Uh-huh, now that was catchy. He liked and don’t-liked US for exactly the same reason!!! How could that be?
R is a weak person, small in stature and timid in nature. His closest friends are not the one’s who look up to him but the one’s that he looks up to. He’s not very assertive in personal life and usually puts his own interests at the bottom of the interest stack.
Well…it’s not a very difficult thing to see that there might be times when such a person finds himself neglected by people around him despite his goodness freely oozing out non-stop like a fresh water spring. This injustice puts him in a perfect place to empathize with anyone who suffers, including the Afghans and the Iraqis. And if you empathize with these guys, no doubt you don’t like US. He’s basically a child who wishes there could be more justice in the world just the way he perceived when he was an infant in the arms of his mother.
Of course he’s not in his mother’s arms anymore and he gotta survive in this world which is definitely not fair. The survival requires him to be strong; but he feels some kinda insufficiency of this strength. Clearly it makes him admire someone who has this strength, just like he admired his father as a kid—his father who was all powerful and could fix any shitty situation (at least that’s what he perceived). Time has changed, he’s grown up into a young man, his father is an oldie looking at him to make important decisions of the family…but the child still admires power and authority and that’s what US displays.
“Right”, I said.
Five seconds of silence and R speaks again “But somehow I also admire US. It can do what it likes.”
Uh-huh, now that was catchy. He liked and don’t-liked US for exactly the same reason!!! How could that be?
R is a weak person, small in stature and timid in nature. His closest friends are not the one’s who look up to him but the one’s that he looks up to. He’s not very assertive in personal life and usually puts his own interests at the bottom of the interest stack.
Well…it’s not a very difficult thing to see that there might be times when such a person finds himself neglected by people around him despite his goodness freely oozing out non-stop like a fresh water spring. This injustice puts him in a perfect place to empathize with anyone who suffers, including the Afghans and the Iraqis. And if you empathize with these guys, no doubt you don’t like US. He’s basically a child who wishes there could be more justice in the world just the way he perceived when he was an infant in the arms of his mother.
Of course he’s not in his mother’s arms anymore and he gotta survive in this world which is definitely not fair. The survival requires him to be strong; but he feels some kinda insufficiency of this strength. Clearly it makes him admire someone who has this strength, just like he admired his father as a kid—his father who was all powerful and could fix any shitty situation (at least that’s what he perceived). Time has changed, he’s grown up into a young man, his father is an oldie looking at him to make important decisions of the family…but the child still admires power and authority and that’s what US displays.
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