Thoughts on Making America Great…
Making America Great Again… Pause and think what “Great” means to you. And for those who think I am an outsider and don’t care, everything I have right now is tied to the future of the United States so my brownness doesn’t make me any less invested in making America great.
But is this what will really make America Great?…
- Denying muslims fundamental rights, shooting them down randomly, and burning down mosques because Islam is a terrorist religion.
- Taking away healthcare from 20M+ poor people, some of whom will die because they don’t have access to medical care anymore.
- Taking away rights from Gays, Lesbians, Trans folks because we don’t agree with how they feel about their own soul.
- Taking away mid-day meals from children and letting them starve.
- Denying a significant percentage of American children right to good quality education because their parents can not afford to pay $25,000+ annually per child after taxes.
- Yet forcing women to bring a child to life even if the kid was an outcome of rape, or even if they can’t provide food, education, and healthcare ot this child.
- Cops routinely killing black kids because they somehow feel intimidated by the demeanor and body language.
- Breaking families apart because the parents migrated illegally and children are American citizens.
- Destroying our environment by taking away investments from any attempts to fight climate change.
No matter what your belief system or values, how can you call any of the above Great? All I see above is “taking away” from poor people, sick people, children, women, LGBT community, from anyone who you don’t agree with/like. Greatness is accepting differences, Greatness is helping others less fortunate than you, Greatness is treating humans with dignity and respect.
“I will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man [woman] whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him [her]. Will he [she] gain anything by it? Will it restore him [her] to a control over his [her] own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj [freedom] for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you will find your doubts and your self melt away.” — Mahatma Gandhi
We, Americans, are not strangers to Greatness. There are so many stories of Greatness by ordinary Americans…
- An ordinary American saved innocent people from a gunman who was out shooting strangers just because they were not white. https://goo.gl/SG5mlN
- Teachers sacrificing their lives to save their students during tye Sandy Hook massacre https://goo.gl/x7dkGQ
- Lining up to donate so much blood for LGBT strangers after the Pulse night club attack that blood banks have to turn away donations due to overwhelming response. https://goo.gl/U583Vj
- Doctors performing abortions and saving lives inspite of death threats https://goo.gl/XYwWfX
- Pitching in to provide meals for hungry children who would otherwise not have access to food https://www.nokidhungry.org
- Raising $600,000 to rebuild a burned Texas mosque https://goo.gl/uhOVbV even though we have likely never stepped in a mosque in our lives.
- Protesting across the country so that Muslims are not denied from coming back home to the United States even though most of us are not Muslims and wouldn’t have been impacted.
- Starting an underground network of houses to save children from loosing their illegal immigrant parents https://goo.gl/9QdJs5
- Cops going above and beyond to serve their communities. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/good-cops/
Greatness is giving opportunities to those who are less fortunate so they can live a better life than they would have without us reaching out to them. So, before we rush to make America great let’s take a moment and think what Greatness actually means.
