The Greek patient - A third (and final) editorial excursion

Many of you know that I'm a pretty skeptical person at heart. I'm not the world's foremost optimist. If anything, I tend strongly toward cynicism. I do think that there is still hope for humanity, but not much. I still believe that maybe even my fellow countrypeople, the Americans, can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and get themselves out of the corner they've painted themselves into ... well, that's what I believe on good days. Not every day is a good day.

For as long as I can remember, the USA has considered itself something special. I don't want to get into an argument as to whether they are/were or aren't/weren't. I simply don't care. I don't think they're special; I think Americans are just like everyone else, and my travels and experiences have borne this out. America and Americans are not entitled to any more in this world than anyone else.

For as long as I can remember, though, it has appeared that America and Americans believe they are entitled to more than others. For all their talk about liberty, freedom, individualism and more, their governments have been willing to deal with the most ruthless and unsavory dictators and countries, if they thought they could get something out of it. It has never been and is still not unusual for the CIA (or whomever may be currently responsible for such things) to remove one head of government to get in another who is more sympathetic to America's interests. Pinochet was fine with us; so was the Shah of Iran, Saddam Hussein, and even Idi Amin (remember him). This bothers me, because I never wanted to believe that this is what America was all about.

But it is what America is all about. If they have "interests", of any kind, be they strategic or geo-political or whatever, they are willing to employ any means necessary to pursue those interests, regardless of the costs, be they mere financial or, more importantly, moral or human costs. You will have to excuse me if I don't stand up and simply wave the flag. Trust, respect, yes, even love, is something you must earn. You don't get any of that by simply being there. America, in my book, still has a lot of earning to do.

And just so you know: I don't want to hear any of that crap about how America isn't doing anything that others aren't doing. Just because others do things in no way justifies your doing them. This is biggest cop-out in business (hey, if we don't do , our competitors will) and it's the biggest cop-out in politics as well. When I wanted to do something because "all my friends were doing it", my mom used to ask me if my friends were all going to jump off a bridge, was I going to jump too. In some regards, too many folks (especially high-ranking politicians) simply haven't grown up.

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of nation-states and believe, fundamentally, that they may have outlived their usefulness, I do realize that they still exist and that they still have a role to play. Nevertheless, no individual country is so unique, so special that they have more, better, or unique rights than any other country. This applies to America, whether it is the richest or the most hapless country in the world.

And, with that in mind, let's finish our story.