A tree near Gandhi’s Memorial
in India
I heard someone who has been out of the country for a few years asked how Americans were perceived by non-Americans. He said that Americans were viewed as thinking they are better than others. This goes along with the American philosophy of Exceptionalism, “the perception that a country, society, institution, movement, or time period is ‘exceptional’ (i.e., unusual or extraordinary) in some way and thus does not need to conform to normal rules or general principles.” For example, on 9/11 as we celebrated the 10th anniversary of this tragedy a non-UN-sanctioned US airstrike left at least four people dead and several others wounded in Pakistan. Killer Drone attacks in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somali are on the increase but these lives are not important as American lives lost.
Exceptionalism does not just apply to the government in our country but even the Church. A column by our Archbishop in the local Catholic newspapers this week expresses the great concern the Church has over abortion but does not mention the born human beings who lives are lost each day by our war actions. To teach abortion is forbidden at our local Catholic Jesuit university but to teach war and reflexive killing, killing without conscience is okay.
At lunch today a friend asked me if I was going to hear a speaker talk on the war in Afghanistan next week locally. I said No emphatically because I cannot handle all the talk about war without taking nonviolent action. However, I am going to a one day retreat by a peace priest at Marquette University.
What to do about all the talk about peace and justice but lack of action? What to do about all the talk about peace and justice but considering our country “exceptional”.
My therapist said last week would it now be wonderful if we could build a big brick wall around our home and garden and not have to deal with the rest of world. Yes it would be nice but cannot be done or justified. It would be exceptionalism supreme. The trick is to live behind the wall and still be active in the ordinary, everyday world. Any ideas how to be exceptionally ordinary?
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