Longest post ever

There is so much in my head right now, I need to start writing some of it down.

And my man is coming tomorrow!! So I might not write for a little while...

***
Always, I am asking myself the same questions: how could this happen? In a place so rich with resources, beauty and history, what causes all this poverty and suffering?

I had dinner with a girl named Lorena this past weekend. She grew up in Guatemala, left to start her Ph.D. in Sweden, and has just returned. When she found out where I was from, she sighed. ¨Oh God, I´m with three Americans,¨ she said.

¨Hey!¨ One of us chimed in. ¨We´re not all bad! There are good and bad people everywhere.¨

¨Yes, but they´re not all from countries who use them to destroy other countries.¨

So naturally, my first reaction was, Now this is someone I want to get to know.

***
There´s an editorial in the New York Times today called Politics and Hunger. It lists several of the reasons for the current global food crisis, and blames the U.S. for many of them, calling on it to do more for poorer countries.

Right now there are 85 comments on the editorial. They all have different slants, but the majority of them have a common thread: deflecting responsibility.

¨I am so sick of the prevalent ´blame-America´ attitude. Why not blame the oil rich Arab nations who are responsible for the reeling Western economies?¨ After all, oil companies are charging more simply because they can. Where is their moral conscience?

¨A good part of the blame should be laid right at the door of the poor countries themselves.¨ After all, their populations are growing at an unsustainable rate. They are corrupt. They are not participating in ¨responsible self-governance.¨ Civil strife and war keep them from producing more.

Then there´s the Darwinist: ¨We're taught that it's an awful thing to say or think, but I choose quality of life for my loved ones over quantity of people whom I do not know. If I knew them, I would want to help them, of course. But I do not know them. Nature is terrible, brutal, heartless, and we need it to stay that way. Because if it's not, then it's not nature any more.¨

***
I picked Lorena´s sharp, fiery, irreverent, uber-educated brain for hours. The whole time, my own brain was short-circuiting from everything she taught me.

Lorena disdains well-intentioned academics, who think they can help anyone with their words. She rolls her eyes at anyone who ever uses the word ´empire´ except in a Star Wars movie. She railed on people who proudly theorize about power because ¨they read one chapter of Foucault.¨ ¨Discourse is not enough, ¨ she said. ¨Discourse like that keeps you from being with people and helping them.¨

On several points, I think Lorena would agree with the Times comments. Yes, she would say, nothing is simple. On that subject, we have lot to learn. Yes, she would say, everyone bears responsibility. She criticizes Guatemala as much as she does the U.S.

***
1981-1983 were the absolute worst years of the civil war in Guatemala. Lorena was born during those years. People our age here have grown up in their country´s worst times. They watched the ideology and hope of the revolution fail. They are well acquainted with injustice, with power misused.

During that time, somehow the U.S. seemed to have plenty of resources. We sent dollars, equipment, and people to aid the oppressive regime in Guatemala, without much concern for how it would be used, or whether it would be repaid, or whether it would be better used in our own country. Jerry Falwell sent members of his church--armed, trained manpower--to fight with the Guatemalan military.

When it comes to humanitarian aid (within our country and throughout the world), however, we are quick to hoard our resources. Suddenly ¨scarcity¨ is the word of choice. We´re very concerned that our charity will not be ¨sustainable.¨ We are quick to find other countries´ faults.

***
The more I learn, the deeper and more complex things seem to be. I also see more clearly, though, how interconnected the world is. It´s not possible to be autonomous. People affect each other. Countries affect each other. In the act of trying to protect our loved ones alone, we cause others´ suffering. We depend on each other for survival--I think about world trade, or the World Bank, or outsourcing, or oil, or immigrant labor, or the UN, or the WHO just to scratch the surface.

We have the opportunity to think of the world as more and more unified--one big ¨us¨ with no ¨them.¨ And, well, it looks like were gonna have to.