First and foremost, my thoughts and prayers go to the people of Norway in the wake of the tragic terror attacks they have endured. If a comparable tragedy were to happen in the United States, it would leave almost six thousand Americans dead. What Norway has suffered is twice what the US did on 9/11. Again, my most sincere condolences and prayers to the Norwegian people.
Now, to the reaction here in the United States. Shame on Americans who use this tragedy as an opportunity and excuse to post their vitriolic hatred toward their own country. The people who post the most vile accusations toward their own country are the problem they decry. The people who draw the most unfavorable conclusions about America and make the most damning accusations toward their fellow Americans are the reason that America is becoming such a coarser, less pleasant, less civic and less civil place to live.
I do not encourage you to do so, but if you insist on reading some of the incendiary comments by Americans against America that I refer to, here is one source.
If you go to places in the United States where there are high concentrations of citizens of Norwegian ancestry, you will find socioeconomic conditions more similar to those in Norway than in much of the rest of America. Do I think that Norwegian cultural is better than what passes for American culture? Not necessarily, but I do know for sure that they are different. It isn’t the country and government of Norway that makes it what it is. It is Norwegian socioeconomic culture that makes the place where they live what it is.
North Dakota has 3.2% unemployment, a booming economy, median income well above the national average, a murder rate less than 1/3rd the national average, and the population is 31% of Norwegian ancestry.
I guess I write this because I do get discouraged at the hateful, dependent, selfish, needy, greedy attitude that so many private Americans are so free to express nowadays. “I want mine” is met by chants of “I want yours”. So many of us gaze jealously at those places that appear to be paradisiacal. But instead of looking in the mirror and seeing our own failings, we blame our fellow Americans in the most scathing, deplorable terms possible.
America is different from other countries. Other countries are largely shaped by their ethnic and national identities, and by their history. In America, this nation of our is what we make of it. If we want it to be more like some place else, then we simply need to start behaving like the people do in that paradisiacal place we aspire to be. Wealth starts by saving and investing, wealth never starts by spending.
I wish I had an easy, cheery, less burdensome message for America, but there is no easy road to get to where we want to go. That is no reason to give up on America. And for those who have given up, please move aside because there are people who want to continue moving forward.
G’day all, and may God continue to bless America.
