King of the World

When I was a child, there was a popular saying to bullies. When a kid stepped out of line and tried to boss someone else around we would say, "Who made you King of the world?” Yesterday I asked myself that. It was a Wednesday, innocently enough. Wednesday is the day that all the English Assistants have the day off so we usually plan on doing something as a group. I met up with two of my friends, Bob and Steve, and they suggested that we catch the new Tom Cruise film: Lions for Lambs. It sounded good enough and once I found out that it was to be shown in 'version originale', I was doubly excited. We purchased our tickets, a bag of M&Ms, and settled in to have a good time. About ten minutes in to the film, I started to sense something was wrong. The thought struck me: When did Tom Cruise start making propaganda? The film was 92 minutes of political bullshit. The same line that the Reps have been toying since the beginning of the war: give us a chance, it is ‘us’ against ‘them’, and the media are the ones losing the fight. I walked away with more than a stomach ache from the M&Ms.
I walked away ashamed.
I was sitting next to two Brits, in a room of French people and I just wanted to hide. As I watched the drama and rhetoric unfold, I felt like I was listening to an old story that I heard too many times before. The movie was meant to inspire Americans to be more patriotic and to serve our country.
It was meant to inspire.
I was inspired. I was inspired to start going to Peace rallies when I get home. I was inspired to convince my friends to actually register to vote so that their words would be heard. I was inspired to change something because our attitudes in the states just aren't cutting it. This week France has been crippled by transportation, student, and civil servant strikes. I find it utterly annoying and sometimes frivolous but at least they are fucking doing something. We sit back and don't give a shit about what is happening in our country. We are wealthy and blessed beyond imagine and we cannot even see it. We walk around patting ourselves on the shoulder while there is horrendous poverty and education next door. We say we are so proud to be American when we don't even understand what the word means.
So who made us King of the World?
We did
We did with our inflated ego trips and propaganda films.
We did with our righteous attitudes and God Bless America signs
We did with our bombing and occupation of foreign countries.

I love America but sometimes I really hate being American.