Once upon a time when our politicians did not tend to apologize for our country's prior actions, here's a refresher on how some of our former patriots handled negative comments about our great country.
These are goodJFK'S
Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, was in France in the early 60's when
DeGaulle decided to pull out of NATO.
DeGaulle said he wanted all US military out ofWhen in England , at a fairly large conference,
France as soon as possible.
Rusk responded,
"Does that include those who are buried here?"
DeGaulle
did not respond.
You
could have heard a pin drop.
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."
You
could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
We have eleven such ships;
how many does France have?"
You
could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
Brit's, Canadians, Aussie's and Americans
arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak
German."
You
could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AND
THIS STORY FITS RIGHT IN WITH THE ABOVE...
Robert Whiting,
an elderly gentleman of 83,
arrived in Paris by plane.
At French Customs,
he took a few minutes to locate his passport in
his carry on.
"You have been to France before, monsieur?"
the customs officer asked
sarcastically.
Mr. Whiting
admitted that he had been to France
previously.
"Then you should know enough
to have your passport ready."
The American said,
"The last time I was here,
I didn't have to show it."
"Impossible..
Americans always have to show their passports on
arrival in France !"
The American senior gave the Frenchman a long hard look.
Then, he quietly explained,
''Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on
D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country,
I couldn't find a single Frenchman
to show a passport to."
You
could have heard a pin drop.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If
you are proud to be an American, pass this on!
If not, delete it.
I am proud to be of this land -- AMERICA
I am proud to be an American
HAVE A GOOD AND BLESSED DAY
I have never lived in Russia and would not want to live in that country.btw Americans are no match for Russians when it comes to mental strength and courage. Americans flourish in a protected and safe environment. They are more paper tigers.
You should follow your parent's suggestion.Dear Renuka,
Freedom is an alluring concept. It works terribly on its own. One needs to be responsible, mature, intelligent and a number of other things for freedom to be constructively used. It is lot more often misused these days. develop those basic and essential qualities first. Personally and at a societal level you will truly enjoy freedom.
I do not want ruffle feathers. If you can explain on what basis you raised the question whether i would live in Russia I can address it better. But I am strongly resisting my parents desire to make me come to USA.
Sravna, let me tell you a story.Renuka,
If you think I have a bias against usa it is not the case. I feel I have to do something very constructive for the society. As for as my parents they would be happy to come back and stay with me if I take the decision to stay back here.
I am strongly driven by a purpose and one of my goals is to work on showing that we are stuck in a one track thinking and that is impeding a fuller development of self. My own example of spiritual development after living a routine life can convince people that there is a life changing potential ability in everybody which can be tapped and we can get perspectives which otherwise we are missing. My other goal is to experiment with spiritual energy for developing technology.
In addition to being the home country India is a perfect place to carry out my goals and realize them.
Both self and society have to constantly undergo improvements. Improvement can happen through experience and introspection. But these days even with the right experience people are not willing to introspect. Thats when an external push is needed. It has happened all along in history and nothing newSravna, let me tell you a story.
After Prophet Abraham faced the test from God, he was instructed by God to climb up a hill and call out loudly to people to come preform the annual pilgrimage.
Abraham asked God..." but there is no one here, who is going to hear me"
God replied " just go ahead..you do your duty and I will deliver the message"
So you see Sravna, none of us need another human being to realize our own spiritual potential, if we do our duty right God becomes our Guru or He sends us a Guru.
Whatever our own spiritual awakening is, its only our ego which is saying others need us as an example.
Each human no matter how bad has the full potential to make a U turn and turn spiritual.
Its time to let go of the thought that we can make a change for others.
We can only make a change for ourselves.
What makes you so sure no one knows what you know?Both self and society have to constantly undergo improvements. Improvement can happen through experience and introspection. But these days even with the right experience people are not willing to introspect. Thats when an external push is needed. It has happened all along in history and nothing new
Even Avatars dont make too much drastic changes.Renuka,
You just have to look around to immediately understand that there is so much of disharmony in the world. I am not saying that by trying help others and to improve the situation I am looking down upon the capability or knowledge of others. The world as it is because of interconnectedness has become a very complicated place. There are so many factors coming from all directions that impact people. It is the poor and other influencable section of society that bear the brunt of this impact. I am saying they have the potential as much as the previleged people but that potential is not bearing out because they are stifled both bluntly and in indirect ways. Dont you think they deserve a much better life and freedom from undue negative influences?
Renuka,Even Avatars dont make too much drastic changes.
I really dont want to think anything along the lines that I was born to do something.
As we age we should realize that we are finally just dependent of guidance from God and should NOT play God.
Exactly..so let go of the thought that you need to guide others.Renuka,
Playing God is a bombastic intent. I will not and cannot do that. But I am doing what my conscience is telling me to do given my understanding of my capabilities and limitations. I will urge everyone who is concerned for the well being of the society to do the same.
Dear Renuka,
Actually i am getting that balance. And what you call as seeking success is wanting to translate that balance to the external world. Yes I have gone through very difficult times but have tried to be positive about it. I have learnt some lessons. After those experiences i very well understand what is fundamentally wrong with our thinking. I genuinely feel the need for edification in the society and genuinely feel that my experiences and lessons over the decade can be of value to the society.
Renuka,We humans can only heal the day we realize we need to gulp the medication first.
Sravna, in an aeroplane when the cabin pressure drops we are asked to put on the Oxygen mask first before we put it on others.
Have you realized ,you are trying to put the mask on others except yourself.
Why is so hard to get well first?
Do you realize you do not take any advice from anyone? Be it your parents or anyone else.
Honestly ask yourself, does anyone in the world actually think you can save the world?
India is full of Gurujis who are well established in saving the world, some are true gurus and some are good bussinessmen.
Why would anyone think you would have something different to share.
Some part of you still cant see reality, I word my sentences politely as I do not wish to stress up anyone..you should follow the advice of your parents and shift to the USA.
Have you thought how stressed up they would be worrying about you?
A lot of people with your medical condition end up being abandoned by family, you are so lucky still that you have a supportive family..yet???
As harsh as it sounds, no one is going to see your story as an example for the world.
99.9999% of people are only going to think on the same lines as what Prasad ji wrote.
Prasad ji was being point blank honest.
You really need to be with your parents..your life would change for the better..join some sat -sang there, learn Vedanta/ Gita etc..be a bhakta, no need to save the world..save yourself.
Nahi Nahi Rakshatin Dukren Karane.
Your "Dukren Karane" here is the desire to save the world.
Drop that.
It has been many years and you have been saying the same thing.Renuka,
I know I have something different to offer. I can see clearly see whats wrong and I believe I have the means to set the right course. We will see Renuka