Post by Blackbird on Aug 31, 2005 18:36:56 GMT -5
This was penned by a good friend of mine. Anybody who loves this nation will send it to everyone they know.
I am angry and hurt and devestated by what has happened in the South. I am also disgusted by the lack of response from our so-called 'friends' around the world. So I wrote this, and I am sending it to everyone at the head of the letter.
Please, I ask you to spread this around. I want it to get as wide a dissemination as possible.
To:
Ireland, current president of the European Union
Prime Minister Tony Blair, United Kingdom
Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth of England
President Jacque Chirac, President of France
President Horst Koehler and Chancellor Gerhard Schroedor, Germany
Prime Minister John Howard, Australia
His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Hirohito of Japan
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Japan
Prime Minister Paul Martin, Canada
President Moshe Katzav and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel
Kofi Anan, Secretary General of the United Nations
The UN Security Council
The UN General Assembly
His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop of Rome
The Citizens of the World
I am not happy. With any of you. That may not seem like such a big thing coming from an unknown American citizen, but let me assure you—my feelings are shared by millions of people in this country. We are not happy, and I think you know why.
The United States has suffered a natural disaster the likes of which this country has rarely—if ever—seen. In fact, it is the worst disaster in the modern history of this nation, surpassing even the events of 9-11. Major cities are flooded, people are homeless—and now refugees—and in need of food, water, clothing, medical aid, shelter, etc. Tens of thousands of people are in desperate need, and the United States—at all levels of government—is gearing up to provide what we can to help our fellow citizens.
What, I ask, have any of you done? Letters of condolence? Prayers? We are touched, but letters and prayers do not feed the hungry. They do not provide shelter for children who are now both homeless and orphans. They do not help with the threat of disease. In short, your reaction to this disaster does nothing.
When a disaster strikes, the world turns to the United States. Our government does what it can, and individual Americans do more. We set aside political and theological differences and do the right thing: we help our fellow man. Millions of dollars poured out of the US when that tsunami hit Indonesia and elsewhere recently. US military aircraft flew much needed supplies into Iran when that country was devastated by an earthquake. American schoolchildren collect pennies to help the hungry in Africa, Eastern Europe and elsewhere. We do this out of compassion, and because it is the right thing to do.
Now, in our hour of need, the world is quiet. Or, when the world speaks, all we here is “you brought it on yourselves”; “the US can handle it and doesn’t need our help”; “let them do it themselves.”
Alright. If you can not hold out even the offer of assistance, if you can not rally your people to lend a hand we so desperately need, then to hell with you. To hell with each and every one of you. We don’t need you. We’ll deal with this ourselves.
I speak only for myself, certainly, but let me assure you once again: millions of my fellow Americans share these feelings. We are stunned by what has happened, but we are stunned even more by the lack of compassion in people we have thought of as our friends, people we’ve helped again and again.
We are stunned, and we are angry. And that anger is going to grow. It is going to swell. America is going to scream with one voice. And when we do, the sound of it will make you tremble in shame. I am going to do everything I possibly can to see to it that this nation screams, and that you hear it.
So hear me now, and pay attention. We cry now for the dead, for the homeless, for the hungry and displaced. We cry, yet we reach out as one nation, one people, to help our brothers and sisters in the South. But as we cry, that scream is building. When it erupts from our throat, from the AMERICAN throat, the whole world will hear it.
And what will we scream? “To hell with you.”
I am angry and hurt and devestated by what has happened in the South. I am also disgusted by the lack of response from our so-called 'friends' around the world. So I wrote this, and I am sending it to everyone at the head of the letter.
Please, I ask you to spread this around. I want it to get as wide a dissemination as possible.
To:
Ireland, current president of the European Union
Prime Minister Tony Blair, United Kingdom
Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth of England
President Jacque Chirac, President of France
President Horst Koehler and Chancellor Gerhard Schroedor, Germany
Prime Minister John Howard, Australia
His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Hirohito of Japan
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, Japan
Prime Minister Paul Martin, Canada
President Moshe Katzav and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israel
Kofi Anan, Secretary General of the United Nations
The UN Security Council
The UN General Assembly
His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop of Rome
The Citizens of the World
I am not happy. With any of you. That may not seem like such a big thing coming from an unknown American citizen, but let me assure you—my feelings are shared by millions of people in this country. We are not happy, and I think you know why.
The United States has suffered a natural disaster the likes of which this country has rarely—if ever—seen. In fact, it is the worst disaster in the modern history of this nation, surpassing even the events of 9-11. Major cities are flooded, people are homeless—and now refugees—and in need of food, water, clothing, medical aid, shelter, etc. Tens of thousands of people are in desperate need, and the United States—at all levels of government—is gearing up to provide what we can to help our fellow citizens.
What, I ask, have any of you done? Letters of condolence? Prayers? We are touched, but letters and prayers do not feed the hungry. They do not provide shelter for children who are now both homeless and orphans. They do not help with the threat of disease. In short, your reaction to this disaster does nothing.
When a disaster strikes, the world turns to the United States. Our government does what it can, and individual Americans do more. We set aside political and theological differences and do the right thing: we help our fellow man. Millions of dollars poured out of the US when that tsunami hit Indonesia and elsewhere recently. US military aircraft flew much needed supplies into Iran when that country was devastated by an earthquake. American schoolchildren collect pennies to help the hungry in Africa, Eastern Europe and elsewhere. We do this out of compassion, and because it is the right thing to do.
Now, in our hour of need, the world is quiet. Or, when the world speaks, all we here is “you brought it on yourselves”; “the US can handle it and doesn’t need our help”; “let them do it themselves.”
Alright. If you can not hold out even the offer of assistance, if you can not rally your people to lend a hand we so desperately need, then to hell with you. To hell with each and every one of you. We don’t need you. We’ll deal with this ourselves.
I speak only for myself, certainly, but let me assure you once again: millions of my fellow Americans share these feelings. We are stunned by what has happened, but we are stunned even more by the lack of compassion in people we have thought of as our friends, people we’ve helped again and again.
We are stunned, and we are angry. And that anger is going to grow. It is going to swell. America is going to scream with one voice. And when we do, the sound of it will make you tremble in shame. I am going to do everything I possibly can to see to it that this nation screams, and that you hear it.
So hear me now, and pay attention. We cry now for the dead, for the homeless, for the hungry and displaced. We cry, yet we reach out as one nation, one people, to help our brothers and sisters in the South. But as we cry, that scream is building. When it erupts from our throat, from the AMERICAN throat, the whole world will hear it.
And what will we scream? “To hell with you.”