AMERICA, DOES THE WORLD ADEQUATELY APPRECIATE HER?

BY EDWIN COONEY

Among news commentator Paul Harvey’s many observations is this one from 1968 during a televised commentary on “The Amazing American”.

“…an amazing American likes to cuss his government, but he’ll fight any foreigner who does.”

Along with the admonition that this is something to think about, a very dear friend of mine recently sent me what you see below:

Their Silence is Deafening

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."

It became very quiet in the room.

* * * * *

Then 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 intend 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..

The US has eleven such ships; how many does France have?"

Once again, dead silence.


* * *

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!

* * *
These diplomats know how to make a point!

Indeed they do, but powerful as it is, it’s only a point. Aside from confirming Paul Harvey’s long ago observation, the above begs a bit of perspective.

As an individual, like you, I wear many hats. Two of those hats are that of American citizen and that of student of history. As a citizen, I occasionally react negatively to what is said about or what happens to my country. As a student of history, I try my best to make sense of it all. It isn’t possible to totally separate emotion and intellect nor would a total separation of those two God-given gifts be at all healthy. I too cringe when the French or other nationals trash my country and its leadership. Like many of my fellow citizens, I tend to feel that the only people legitimately licensed to criticize America are Americans. However, I also cringe when Americans oversimplify America’s history or America’s motives as the above piece certainly does.

One of the most common themes, probably since the mid 1960s, when Americans get together to discuss the world situation, is how little the world appreciates America. (No wonder Britain gave up her empire!)

Such discussions usually take place among people who:

-- Feel that they pay too many taxes especially for foreign aid to unappreciative countries;

-- Have fought or have family members who have fought or served in our armed forces; or who believe that America went to war mostly out of the goodness of her heart in both world wars, Vietnam, twice in Iraq as well as in the Balkans.

However, America has never gone to war nor should she ever go to war out of the goodness of her heart. The lives and well-being of her sons and daughters are too valuable for mere sentiment.

What America came to realize beginning in the 1880s and 1890s was that she couldn’t be permanently prosperous or peaceful living in a world in which she couldn’t control the events at least to some degree. So, America wisely began to be competitive in world commerce and in world politics.

Nor is it historically accurate to assert (as the above commentary suggests) that America has never gone to war in pursuit of territory. Our early attempts to secure Canada from Britain, our wars with Mexico and Spain, and our treatment of Native Americans all destroy the legitimacy of any such suggestion.

As to whether America’s finest virtues are given adequate consideration and appreciation, the answer is simple. Of course America isn’t adequately appreciated. How can she be? Wise nations don’t plan their tomorrows using sentiment as the main element of their planning, strategic or otherwise. Neither Woodrow Wilson in World War I. nor Franklin Roosevelt in World War II. went to the rescue of other nations until our security was threatened.

The element in our national character which makes us quite special is our usual generosity toward the downtrodden as well as the vanquished. I think that comes from our own desire to be comfortable and from our own realization that we can’t really be comfortable if others aren’t.

As to the question of whether other nations might not be much better off if they adopted this aspect of our character, the answer is:...of course they would! As to whether or not Americans adequately appreciate what some nations have done for us, the answer is...of course we don’t!



The author of the above set of anecdotes obviously doesn’t take into account that if it wasn’t for eighteenth century royalist France, it is probable that our continent would have been colonized as well as turned into a confederation of nation states by a combination of the British, Spanish, French, and the Dutch. Furthermore, without our French allies, George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and John Hancock would likely have been beheaded on London’s Tower Hill, to the cheers of thousands of Britains, for treason against George III. Hence the French have an honored place in the very founding of America which seldom gains our attention today. As for France’s motive? It was her enmity toward Britain, nothing more!

Americans are rightly put off by reckless attacks on President Bush by French and other foreign nationals and we can be excused if we’re sometimes frustrated by actions that go against us in the United Nations. However, it’s a matter of record that youthful America pointedly didn’t show gratitude toward France for French assistance during the American Revolution.

In 1794, President Washington decided that America would take neither side in France’s war with Great Britain—and for good reason. America didn’t have the capacity to defend herself in case of attack by either power. However, the French definitely chose not to understand that decision. They insisted that America owed their country a debt and engaged some of our merchant shipping on the high seas. Thus, youthful America and France nearly went to war in 1798.

Then there is the original matter of American gratitude or appreciation. In the mid 1760s, the mightiest nation on earth sought to recover financially after having fought a seven year war on behalf of her thirteen North American colonies. In that war, which was fought against an alliance of France and tribes of American Indians, Britain spent millions of pounds sterling. Additionally, several of her finest soldiers, who were members of her proud nobility, lost their lives on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec and in the wilderness of western Pennsylvania. The war finally ended in 1763 and Britain believed that her colonies ought to defray some of the expenses made on their behalf. Sadly for Britain, the men and women whose property had been saved and whose safety had been secured weren’t even grateful.

Within thirteen years after that exhausting war, those colonists stopped calling themselves Englishmen and started referring to themselves as Americans.

Ingratitude like gratitude possesses no national citizenship papers. Ingratitude lives just as comfortably in America as it does anywhere else.

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

EDWIN COONEY