I think it is. In many ways it is. But sometimes I think
Americans confuse being a great nation with having a great calling. I believe
America has a great calling. One is to preserve the gospel to be shared through-
out the world. America stood against communism in the late 50’s, early 60’s and
I think that was part of her calling. America helped save Europe from Hitler
and the Nazism. And of course there’s been many ways America have been involved
in much disputed wars after that.
Sometimes I think Americans are like the Albanians that for 48
years were told by their dictator that they were the greatest country in the
world. The truth was they lived in the most severe poverty and they didn’t even
know it. When Albania was liberated and people could actually go outside its
borders, some people were so shocked by what they saw; they took their own
lives realizing they had been living a lie for so long.
It’s not that bad here of course but America has poverty in
its midst that we haven’t seen in Europe since the turn of the last century.
And I’m talking about “dirt poor” people. We have them here in Phoenix and
every other town in the US.
To see something like
that in Europe you have to go to countries like Romania. I have NEVER seen it
in the rest of Europe and absolutely not in Sweden. I mean people with no
teeth, dirty, not enough food to feed a family, uneducated etc. I’m sure my
grandpa saw it when he grew up. But he was born in 1899. And there is an
expression describing the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, “Dirt Sweden” meaning
the poor.
I know that when Europeans see this here, they are astounded.
A rich country like America! Wow, it doesn’t look good. Can’t they get rid of poverty? I know it’s a
huge task and I don’t believe in socialism but there’s something in the system
here that is not right. Not everybody is super smart and can start their own
business. If you work a full day, maybe using your body and not so much your
brain, you should get paid enough so you can rent a place and at least have
food on the table every day.
Some people say that we can’t make it without for example
Mexican’s working jobs that Americans don’t want and for very low wages. I
think that whole mentality is wrong in itself and it screws up (excuse my
language), the whole system. Prices and everything is based on that we have a
group of people that are underpaid. Therefore some people can buy a condo for
900.000 dollars, which is a crazy fantasy price, while others can’t afford a
rent of 500 dollars a month.
I’m no economist, but it seems to me that the whole system
has to be revised. Not to take money from the rich, but the cost of housing etc.
is not real. It’s based on false premises. And why should some people be paid
fantasy salaries? How much money do you need?
Any thoughts?
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