I feel good

Children aren’t responsible for the deeds and failures of their parents, we all agree about that. And it goes for the citizens of any given country: they’re not responsible for the crimes of their ancestors. But their nation is and any citizen must take into account that he/she is an heir who represents his/her community for the best and the worse it may have committed.

No country of some historical importance can claim to be morally cleaner than its neighbour. The Germans particularly, those with the most horrendous record of the XXth century, have entirely learned the lesson and would be the last ones to pretend teaching lessons of morality to the rest of the world. The same holds true with the Russians or the Japanese, to name a few.

Yet, there’s a country with a very short history and a pretty dark amount of black spots (think slavery, Indians’ removal, wars against Mexico or the Philippines, atomic bombs on civilians, 2 million Vietnamese casualties, preventive war in Iraq) which seems to think of itself as above all others when it comes to tell the whole world how it should act and behave. 

Now, many Americans are fully aware that the USA isn’t exactly a paragon and epitome of morality on the international stage and they unjustly suffer from the bad image their country “enjoys” abroad. But another good number of Americans seem to be totally blind to the past of their Nation and, when reminded of some unpleasant facts, they dismiss them as now irrelevant because said facts purportedly belong to the past.

Which better way to make oneself feel good than to let fall in oblivion what is unbearable?

What they fail to understand is that the past still lives on for everyone and can never be obliterated. They should look no further why America often gets a lot of negative rating among peoples of the world who don’t exactly appreciate being continuously taught lessons of morality coming from a country they see exuding of sheer hypocrisy.

The ignorant and morally self-serving are responsible for that bad image that spreads also on those Americans who know and understand and unjustly carry the weight of their fellow citizen’s “feel good” consciousness.

(Note: The painting is “Transfiguration” by Raphël in the Pinacoteca Vaticana of the Vatican Museum)