OPEN
LETTER TO:
My Dear
American Friends and Neighbours,
So what
started as somewhat entertaining has rapidly descended into something rather
frightful. Many of us north of your border took for granted over the last few
months that a certain portion of the American population wanted to be part of a
new reality TV show called, ``Presidential Apprentice``. Unfortunately it appears
now that this is not a show at all. No wait. It is actually a show and quite
entertaining but not exactly the show many of us want to see any longer. This
is why I felt compelled to write to you. We are worried about you; no not only about you but ``for you``. This is going to be a little long; so hopefully you will follow along until the end.
Let me tell
you a little about myself and my family. We have lived north of your Border for
three generations. Not that long but certainly long enough to have allowed us
to build a great deal of respect, admiration, infinity and passion for you our
Neighbours. My Dad would often take me and my younger brother to the Plattsburg
Airforce Base so we could watch the Fighter Jets landing and taking off. We
also spent many a summer in Maine and Florida vacationing on the beaches. As I
grew into my late teens my first big adventure was driving to Florida from
Montreal for an epic road trip with two of my buddies in one of their Dads Chrysler Fifth
Avenue. That was when I truly began to
admire and love the United States and most importantly its citizens. Since that
trip many, many years ago I have returned regularly to your incredible country.
I have had the opportunity to work there and play there. I
have driven across your country twice. Yes twice! Why? You might ask. Well
simply because I have gained so much from the interaction with citizens from
the East Coast to the West Coast. From the Northern Border to the Southern tip. I have sat in your places of worship. I have eaten in your small town dinners and your big city restaurants. I have walked in the water of the Atlantic,
Pacific and Gulf. I have walked your greatest cities at all times of the day and admired the granduer of it all. I have fished along the banks of some of your great rivers,
climbed some of your highest mountains and admired many of your parks and
national monuments. Through all of these experiences I gained the greatest gift
possible; the opportunity to meet, talk, discuss and laugh with thousands of
divers Americans from all walks of life. American’s who have enhanced my life
from the contact and interaction I had with them. What always impressed me was
that regardless of their diversity or from which State they came, or from what
ethnic or religious background; there was always one tangible. Your love of Country.
Fast
forward now to 2016 and something dramatic has happened. For some yet to be,
still completely complexing reason, a certain amount of the population has
chosen to embrace an individual who is so counter to the values of all those
fine Americans I have met over my lifetime. I have watched the United States
and its people step up to face global threats from tyrants, narcissistic
bullies and raving lunatics. I have watched you be the world’s police when
other countries who should have stepped up shunned from their responsibility. I
have watched as you have been often criticized for this action or your foreign
policies. More importantly I have watched Americans die for a cause bigger then
themselves. Regardless of this, you have continued to fight the good fight where
you believed it was necessary. Some believe this was done only in the name of
resources or politics. I have never subscribed to that notion. The reason being
that no country can sacrifice as much as you have and have done it purely for
self-interest. There was something greater at play. Maybe this can be tied back
to your history and your ability to face dramatic internal challenges and
differences to become a better Nation. For me it has always boiled down to
this. America is not a place on a map, a simple populated land mass, it is an `idea` and I believe this is what generation after generation has sacrificed
for. Nothing more simple then that. An ``idea`` of what a Country can be and more
relevantly what America is and who Americans are.
Now I know
things have not been easy. Things have been complicated economically, socially
and politically since 2008 and more importantly 2001. Many things have changed.
Security, once an afterthought seems today be the only thought. The average man and woman finds themselves struggling harder and harder every day to make a
life for themselves and their families. Large corporations have too much power,
Government representatives are more interested in their own `self-interest`
then in the `greater interest` of their constituents. There are racial and
religious divisions and disputes. There is a justice and policing system in shambles. Know
this however; it is the same everywhere. What you are experiencing is not
unique to the United States. It is happening all over the world. What I
mentioned above manifests itself in different ways to different extents in different countries but
they all share the same commonality. Recognizing this is half the battle.
How you chose to address what you face and try to improve it is the other half. Which
brings me to my point.
Through the
last 330 years, America has reinvented itself over and over. You have produced
some of the greatest scientific minds, inventors, artists and writers. You
have contributed so much not only to your Nation but to every other Nation on
earth. The inventions realized on your soil now benefit billions. Yes billions.
Your Political leaders from both parties have helped to mold and sculpt the landscape of the world we live in today. Freedom in Europe or for that matter the world might not exist today if not for you
and the other allied partners who deposed psychotic, narcissistic bullies. Your
politicians and spiritual leaders have spoken words which have resonated around
the globe. From Lincoln`s, ``Gettysburg address``, to King`s, ``I have a dream``,
to J.F. Kennedy`s inauguration address and the famous words, ``ask not what your
Country can do for you; ask what you can do for your Country``. The most
important and relevant words for today’s condition came from R. Kennedy speaking on the day after Kings
assassination. He said some of the following:
``Too often we honor swagger and bluster and wielders of force; too often we excuse those who are willing to build their own lives on the shattered dreams of others. Some Americans who preach non-violence abroad fail to practice it here at home. Some who accuse others of inciting riots have by their own conduct invited them.
Some look for scapegoats, others look for conspiracies, but this much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.
I have not come here to propose a set of specific remedies nor is there a single set. For a broad and adequate outline we know what must be done. When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered.
We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force. For all this, there are no final answers.
Yet we know what we must do. It is to achieve true justice among our fellow citizens. The question is not what programs we should seek to enact. The question is whether we can find in our own midst and in our own hearts that leadership of humane purpose that will recognize the terrible truths of our existence.
We must admit the vanity of our false distinctions among men and learn to find our own advancement in the search for the advancement of others. We must admit in ourselves that our own children's future cannot be built on the misfortunes of others. We must recognize that this short life can neither be ennobled or enriched by hatred or revenge.``
Those words
spoken decades ago have the same relevance for American`s today. There is today a
man of bluster, a man without substance, a man who
believes only in his own greatness and not those of the people. A man standing
in front of a podium trying to redefine patriotism. A man claiming to speak for
the majority, telling them that he is their voice and can make them, ``great again``. He advocates from that very podium afforded to him by the
sacrifice of young American men and women that free speech is his and his
alone and that anyone who dissents should be violently confronted, arrested and locked away. A man who through the deceitful manipulation of his words talks
about race, women and immigrants with full knowledge that he will incite anger, hatred, violence and resentment against those he speaks of. A man
who`s only goal it to divide, to appeal to the lowest common denominator, to
make you fear. A man who tells you he has the answer without ever providing one
solid solution. A man who in essence represents the exact thing that most Americans
are angry and frustrated with. He is the famous 1%. He tells you he is one of you and he is
succeeding in making some believe that he cares about their issues, their anger
and their disillusionment. Understand though that he is not in the least bit
interested in your problems, challenges or issues. He cares only about telling
you who is responsible and who you should blame for your current plight in life
with the goal of riding that very dissent to power.
He wants to sell you an elixir and wants you to drink it without hesitation believing it is the cure. When in fact he is selling you nothing but snake oil. There is not one ounce of leadership in what this man is selling.
Unless of course you consider inciting people to sexism, hatred, bigotry and racism;leadership. American`s have seen this type of monster before. You have sent
your young men and women to battle to defend America and your allies against
such evil threats.
My American friends, you have scarified far too much and have come far too far to allow
this embodiment of evil to take power on your soil. When I was twenty I fell
in love with a girl from Brooklyn. We met on a beach in Florida. She was
intelligent, beautiful and had an incredible spirit. She had such enormous
belief in her country. In her countries ability to grow and become greater. As
many young loves do we ended up going our separate paths but I always remember
what she once said to me sitting in Battery Park, `` you know Rob I believe I
can do anything, that I am going to achieve what I want. That I can make anything I
dream of a reality. How can I possibly fail, when I live in the greatest place on earth``.
Yes we were young but those words are true. As true today as they were 31 years
ago. Is America Perfect? No! Is anywhere perfect? Absolutely not! One thing is true. American is already great. Yes you have issues and challenges. What Country does not?. Your only true challenge is to find a renewed path to grow that greatness. This path however will not be found through that snake oil salesman or in what he is trying to sell you. For It can only be found through yourselves using the
same passion, resolve, commitment and heart you and your forefathers have applied for the last
330 years. If it is rejuvination, restructuring or change you seek then you can find it but not through this snake oil salesman. I have watched you change, grow, adapt and succeed together. This
Man. This manipulator of disenchantment and of your anger is not you. He is not
you! He is simply an opportunist. A salesman of the hour, selling you a false cure to your greatest
concerns and fears with the hope of misleading you long enough with the elixir so he can
slip into the seat of power.
All the
best to you,
No comments:
Post a Comment