If We Focus on Others, What About (the) US?
As you all know, U.S. is one of the most well-developed countries in the world with access to pretty much any basic necessities that you can think of. “With great power comes great responsibility,” I felt like this quote very much applies to the U.S., because of how some people, typically those who have a global identity, have the notion that the U.S. should aid other countries in their domestic problems, which I agree to a certain extent. The problems that the U.S. should tackle in other countries should only be limited to those that we have solved in our own nation first. If we attempt to fix something that we as a nation have not experienced ourselves, we have no idea on how to tackle that said problem. Therefore, this is why I believe that having a national identity as an American is imperative before aiding other countries. Some may say that with a nationalistic mindset, we are simply using this as an excuse to avoid aiding those who are unable to help themselves, however I argue that we are not avoiding the problems of others, but have to ensure our long-term stability so that we can provide effective help from our own experiences for a longer period of time.
Our current situation is indeed a blessing, but how long will it last? You’ve heard the saying “nothing lasts forever” right? Well, this quote applies here because our easy access to basic necessities will one day diminish, so it is our job as a nation to ensure that this stability lasts for as long as it can. Let us take water for instance, in California the water level of lakes, reservoirs, and any bodies of water are all dropping. We need to find a solution to ensure that California can continue to have access to clean water. If we find a solution in getting access to clean water for generations to come, we can then apply this solution to countries where clean water is a luxury. By ensuring our stable source of clean water, we do not have to worry about our nation and can now focus on spreading this knowledge to other countries who are deprived of long-term clean water access.
However, I am not saying that we should focus solely on the U.S., we should address the problems that are present here while we also aid other nations in their problems that we already have solutions to. To bring this into perspective, let me bring up the topic about COVID-19 vaccines. Currently, the U.S. has so many vaccines that there are some that are expiring because people are not willing to take them. Now, we are already planning on getting booster shots when in some countries people have yet to receive their first vaccine shot. As I stated before, since we have a large supply of COVID-19 vaccines, the U.S. should be focusing on getting the countries in the Global South vaccinated against COVID-19, not solely focusing on getting booster shots for Americans.
On the contrary, the sharp rise in housing costs and comparing that to the very limited rise in the amount that minimum wage workers receive, how are people expected to get a house when they can rarely afford it? In this situation, the homelessness in our country should be addressed first. We have to understand the fundamental reasons to why homelessness is such a huge problem in the U.S. because if we were to give aid to another nation, this same problem may arise in their country as well. And no, I am not saying that we should ignore other countries’ problems that falls under the category of housing, because if all that the other country needs is how to create a structurally sound housing, then the U.S. should give them such information so that their country can tackle their housing problems. It is such a huge problem in the U.S. that if you walk around Los Angeles for about 5 minutes, you will, without a doubt, see at least 5 homeless people. A reason behind this is that there are “influencers” on social media who promote buying a home, fixing it up, and then selling it at a much higher amount to gain profit. This negatively affects most families because minimum wage is unable to afford such price increases that they must resort to living on the streets instead. Clearly, there is a flaw in our housing system that we should not bring to other countries which may lead them down the same road in the years to come. Once we find a solution in maintaining housing costs for a longer period of time, we should definitely assist those in other countries who are unable to have such stability.
Well, what about climate change? Surely there are some who would argue that climate change should be tackled before anything because if this problem gets out of hand, the other problems are meaningless. Those people would surely agrue that having a global identity would be imperative in tackling climate change, however this is not the case in my opinion. You do not necessarily have to have a global identity to tackle climate change because this problem does not only affect the Global South. We have experienced the effects of climate change in our own nation, especially with the most recent example of Hurricane Ida, which affected the East Coast. By having a national identity, one could argue that tackling climate change is necessary, because doing so would ensure that our nation exists for as long as possible. Admittedly, I do believe that tackling climate change under the notion of having a global identity is much more effective because now you are taking into consideration the damage done to other country that may be more severe than what is experienced in America.
Overall, the people in my home country should identify nationally because not only do the benefits affect us, but it will affect those that we aid as well. By understanding our problems and figuring out a way to ensure that additional problems don’t arise, we can apply the same solution to other countries so that they don’t have the same problems as us. We are pretty much forcing ourselves to fully understand the problems that we have, which may coincide with another country. Finding the root cause and solving it may be the answer that the other countries are looking for as well.
