July 2003

From The Far Side

The other day, I was sitting with a friend here in Amman watching the TV news. He’s an Arab-American. His parents are from Jordan, but he was born and raised in the United States. We were watching Fox News via satellite. It was the 4th of July. The commentators were taking phone calls from Americans all over the United States, questioning them about the meaning of the holiday. One woman said the holiday made her very happy because she was happy to celebrate being fortunate enough to live in the best country in the world, where freedom is the reality and where she can have anything her heart desires.

When hearing this, I gave a kind of long sigh. This new friend of mine looked at me and asked, “What’s wrong with you?” I said to him that it upsets me how Americans so often live inside of such a bubble reality. Looking at me, astonished, he was somewhat offended and said, “But don’t you believe that the United States is the greatest country in the world? Only in the United States do we live free and are able to do anything we want, as long as we don’t break the law. Saddam Hussein’s regime never gave that to his people?” I could tell that I was conversing with a true American.

I said to him, “Okay, I agree that there are some great things about the United States, but why do we have to think that it’s the best place in the world? There are a lot of places in the world that have democratic freedoms, as well as a lot of other things that you can’t find in the United States.”

“Like what?”

“Well,” I said, “How about affordable health care? In the United States, the majority of people don’t have health insurance that comes anywhere close to meeting their needs in case of illness. Most countries around the world have a national health insurance system that provides for its peoples.”

I told him the story of how one of my sons had gotten sick in the United States and needed an antibiotic. The product that we got for him cost $100. Here in Jordan, the same product—in fact from the same company with the same label—was $12. (And yes, the expiration date on the product was well within the range of being good for consumption.) How about affordable university education? No country in the world has as high costs for university education as the United States. Perhaps anyone can qualify for a college education, but if they can’t afford it, then they don’t go. What about the issue of homelessness in the United States? The latest numbers that I saw were that 12 million were homeless. These are things that are unheard of even in some of the poorest countries in the world.

“Maybe that’s true,” said my friend, “but where else in the world can we demonstrate as much as we want if we don’t like something?”

“Okay,” I responded, “we can demonstrate. In many countries people demonstrate just as much if not more. But you shouldn’t ever think that the government isn’t watching these demonstrations very carefully, because it is, and that’s a fact. I don’t say there is necessarily something wrong in that, but nothing is going unnoticed, even in the United States.”

My new friend said to me, “Okay, I understand what you’re saying and I agree, but what’s your point?”

I clearly stated to him, “We Americans need to be honest about what our country is. Okay, no one is saying that it is a terrible place, it’s a good place, but why are Americans living in a bubble reality, in which we think there is no one like us, no one as good, no one as honest and just? That’s just not true. We need to look at the world around us and realize that we are all one community, whether we be Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, or Hindu. Jesus taught us that with the story of the Good Samaritan. One day an expert in religious law asked Jesus what the most important commandment is. After Jesus said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind,” He continued and said, “And, Love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:25-27). The expert then asked who his neighbor is. If we want to claim that we are Christian, then we have to be truly honest with what we are and then act on that. Why do we put on airs about what we are, when we are not perfect? We need to look inside of ourselves and ask some difficult questions and try to correct things that just aren’t what they should be if we want to claim we are what we say we are. Why do we compare ourselves to Iraq or China or Rwanda? Why don’t we compare ourselves to what Jesus was and work from there?

“Okay, okay,” he said, “But that will never happen, that’s not realistic.” When hearing that, I gave a long kind of sigh. Is he right?

Chris Doyle

The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 156