American Life
"Every day in our own neighborhoods, things happen that we would find
very depressing."
By Ben Williams
 In
the midst of all this war coverage and controversy, I often wonder if we have
lost perspective. With all information on foreign and domestic affairs being
filtered first through the government and then through the media, people tend
to lose sight of how big the world really is. Many people don’t even know
the name of their next-door neighbor, yet we know all about Saddam Hussein and
his scandalous ways.
Every day in our own neighborhoods, things happen that we would
find very depressing, things that rip our community apart. A man beats his wife,
a kid joins a gang. Yet what are we doing while all this is going on? We’re
probably at home watching war coverage during commercial breaks from Survivor.
More importantly, where is the government? Murder is on the rise
again in many cities across the country, such as Oakland. Police corruption
and drugs have been an ongoing problem. Is this the way of life our troops are
fighting to defend?
I would like to think that our troops are dying in battle for
a little more than our freedom to drive the biggest car we can find. We are
an incredibly wealthy nation in a world otherwise jam packed with starvation
and poverty. According to a 1994 report by UNICEF, the United States has a gross
national product averaging out to 25,860 dollars per person. On the other end
of the spectrum, countries like Haiti rakes in a whopping 225 dollars per person.
Many countries don’t even come close to our wealth and prosperity. We
live in a nation in which consumerism is considered a good thing.
Here in America, we have the freedom to do whatever we choose
with our time, yet we spend more time watching TV than we do helping others.
I’m not speaking for all people, but the last time I checked, about 18.6
million people chose to watch Joe Millionaire rather than go try to help someone,
somewhere, somehow. Some might say advertisements and the media influence people
to become consumers, but advertisers only advertise what sells, and the media
only prints what they know people want to hear.
Maybe if the American people took a more active role in their
own communities we would gain the respect of foreign nations instead of their
hatred. And once we the people have improved the state of our own nation, maybe
then we could begin the process of helping other nations — not making war
on them or trying to force our way of life on them.
— Ben Williams is a Youth Radio intern. He is moving back to his hometown
of Seattle next week.
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