Self-respect
I contact my representative government elected officials. I view it as a way to “vote” between elections. So when necessary, I call or send emails to my elected representatives. After all, they can’t represent me if they don’t know what I think right?
After reading an article in the BBC, I got riled up and sent the following to President Obama via http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.
President Obama is emphasizing Afghanistan. Certainly there are pitfalls there as the Russians and many others have found. I am nowhere near sure we should be doing this. But we have made promises there we’re not keeping. Simple ones: build roads and clear mines for example. So I would like to be positive on this policy.
Then I read this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7991937.stm
In it the US representatives leave a BBC reporter to stand in for us.
If we’re going to stay in Afghanistan - no matter if we should or not - we need to do a good job of it. This is the kind of article that I read and I’m pissed at our US officials there. I’m ashamed of how they acted. After all the time we’ve been there we should have knowledge of the culture. We should have respect for the people who live there. Instead we’re acting like some fat cat rich bastard tossing coins to children.
It’s simple: Do the right thing. If we make a promise, follow through. Treat people with respect - just like anywhere. And then we can keep our self-respect.