Pride, not shame

[indianajoe]

I just wanted to share something that I thought you all might appreciate. In another social forum, I came across the following comment by a person on my "friend list":

Shame on you America: the only country where we have homeless without shelter, children going to bed without eating, elderly going without needed meds, and mentally ill without treatment - yet we have a benefit for the people of Haiti on 12 TV stations. 99% of people won't have the guts to copy and repost this.

And my response to this friend....

Shame on America? You may want to rethink this.

The US is the not the only country that has the kind of social problems you mention, but I can tell you this... there's less of it here than elsewhere in the world. I've lived in Africa and the Caribbean and I've seen it. And my African friends here have told me that they wanted to come to America, why? Because "even the poor people were fat and had cars and TVs."

Since 12 January, Americans have opened their hearts and wallets to the tune of $1.6 million per hour for Haiti relief, and have given a total of $355 million through 21 January. True enough. And this should be a source of pride, not shame.

The generosity of Americans is not limited to Haiti relief nor targeted only to other countries. In 2008, Americans donated more than $300 BILLION to charity. On a per capita basis, Americans give three and a half times as much to causes and charities as the French, seven times as much as the Germans, and 14 times as much as the Italians (1995 data). Similarly, in 1998, Americans were 15 percent more likely to volunteer their time than the Dutch, 21 percent more likely than the Swiss, and 32 percent more likely than the Germans.

The US and its people are some of the most generous on the planet. If a person feels shame, that person can always donate and volunteer. But "shame on America"? Can the facts move you to reconsider?

 

[Andre46996]

Please don't get any blood on the floor from your bleeding heart...

I agree there are sick, homeless, hungry here if we took care of each other here we would not need socialist programs like welfare.

In days past "welfare" was a church and community thing where you would lend a hand to a person struggling, not hand out my money to a lazy baby making machine.

 

[Bill of Rights]

I don't know if any of the described conferences below really happened. I don't care. I'm proud of my country and of it's peoples' generosity.

There was another story as well, but I don't recall enough of it to locate it online. In essence, it described a few people of other countries all ganging up on an American to describe how his country had failed some foreign nation by not providing aid. His reply included something to the effect of him looking forward to the day an American had to push a national of one of those other countries out of the way to help someone in need... and that it had not happened yet.

To the naysayer to whom the OP referred and replied, I would ask "and what have YOU done, other than complain?"

To the OP, my rep comment is about to read, "Well said, sir. Semper Fi!"

The stories follow:

When in England, at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.
He answered by saying, 'Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.'

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break, one of the French engineers came back into the room saying 'Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intended to do, bomb them?'
A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly: 'Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in
transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?'

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A U.S. Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the U.S., English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. At a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries.
Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that, whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English. He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking
French?'
Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.'

You could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AND THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...

Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on.
'You have been to France before, monsieur?' the customs officer asked sarcastically..Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously.
'Then you should know enough to have your passport ready.'
The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it.
'Impossible. Americans always have to show your pass ports on arrival in France !'
The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look. Then he quietly explained, 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find a single Frenchmen to show a passport to.'

You could have heard a pin drop.

 

[DaveD]