Response to ‘Guilt from Safety.’

I agree with BD. Safety and security also bring obligation and responsibility. In a broader sense, the stronger should help the weaker. If this ideology is applied to the world affairs, we could live in a more peaceful world. We, the United States, have a responsibility to help the others. I understand that the conservative thinkers may argue that it is the best for America if we concentrated on our own problems. There are, however, people in desperate need of help. Wars are killing many innocent people each day, and starvation is still a big problem in certain parts of the world. Knowing what happens in less privileged parts of the world, one cannot just pursue the selfish, NIMBY idea of restricted foreign policy. Tony Horwitz does a good job in describing his discomfort and guilt as a privileged observer of sufferings in the Middle East. Luckily, the United States gets on to the sympathy and attempts to help calm the turbulence in the Middle East, claiming to be determined to seek the ‘weapons of mass destruction,’ which the military forces were actually unable to find. Now there are suspicions that America is getting itself involved in the business for other political and/or economic reasons. Thus, if the United States is really trying to help bring peace, why couldn’t they prove their sympathy and helpfulness by helping the youngsters in Darfur who are in danger, or stop the genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda? It is depressing to see that the real world cannot hide the cynical truth of hypocritical human nature.
SL