American (in)Exceptionalism

                Every 4^th of July we pretend that we celebrate everything that is uniquely American. We do so while ignoring the fact that these celebrations scare the shit out of our best friends (dogs) and even worse trigger episodes in the veterans who have protected us. Who cares though? As long as we can launch Chinese rockets in the air? What is more American than that? Harming those who stick with us no matter what (dogs) and triggering traumatic stress in our veterans (fireworks). Nothing is more American than screwing over those who have meant more to us than anything else in our lives.

                I obviously could go on and on about this, it’s just obviously our legacy and what we tend to perpetuate. We have a lot to learn about who we are and who we can be. Our tolerance is severely lacking. It’s not just about different people coming to county, or people who haven’t tended to fit the mold of “America”. There are people within this county who are still treated like crap.

                Sure, you expect me to talk about race. I’ve done it before, its obviously a problem. This country tends to look down on racism as if it’s a thing of the past. Its over, since we don’t have slaves anymore everything is square. Certainly, no need to try to make amends, what’s in the past is in the past. Who gives a shit about doing the right thing? No, fuck that, we’re totally beyond any problems regarding race.

                I spent the 4^th weekend with parents of a newly diagnosed type I diabetes 3-year-old. The things plaguing America didn’t really come up. What did come up was behavior. We had 3 kids under the age of 7 meeting for essentially the first time. 2 of the kids lived with each other and knew and understood each other. The third was an only child who had diabetes. We obviously spent time trying to compare the behavior of each child. What would be considered normal, what would be nature, what would be nurture. None of the adults were willing to say out loud that that was they were doing. However, I’m pretty sure we were. Trying to justify what made our kids normal, what made them different. What made our kids smarter than their peers.

                We have this desire or innate feeling that we are superior. We will come up with any excuse to think that we are in face better than anyone, be it foreigners or locals who look different. We want to feel like we are better then everyone else. That’s it, we just want to feel better.

                This whole time with another family with a diabetic kid, I’m thinking that I need to step in and hold my kids back from being them. They can’t be as rough as they normally are (not very rough at all). I’m thinking this kid needs to be treated “softly” I guess. Well, ultimately this kid is more forceful than my kids. His disability doesn’t matter at all. He is just a kid that needs to learn how to deal with other kids. Likewise my kids need to learn how to deal with him.

                Just like the kids, the adults needed to learn from each other. Each of us had a different way of dealing with our own kids. There were times that things would overlap, there were times we’d each let their own kid do their own thing. The only thing in common that we had in discipline was that we wanted all of the kids to understand and acknowledge each other’s feelings. We let the kids be themselves. Dealt with the fallout from that, and treated it at learning experiences.

                Not everyone will agree with you, not everyone will go along with what you want to play. If you refuse to play with someone because they look different or they behave different then I suppose you won’t have many to play with, or few would want to play with you.

                If you only socialize with those who look/think/feel/medicate the same as you, how much are you growing? How much are you questioning what you know? How much are you contributing to the furtherment of those around you? How much are you putting others ahead of yourself?