Freedom Area High School's Student Newspaper

FHS Press

Freedom Area High School's Student Newspaper

FHS Press

Freedom Area High School's Student Newspaper

FHS Press

Grinds my gears… America’s small-mindedness

We live in America. Great country, right? Wrong. Sure, America has many good qualities, but so do many other nations. And just like everyone else, America has its share of problems as well. However, what makes these problems worse is the small-minded people who think that America is an all-mighty country that will never be taken down. In class the other day, we got into a debate about foreigners in our country. The comment was made by some students about how everyone in America needs to speak “American.” I had to stop and stare at these kids. At the age of 16 or 17 wouldn’t you think they’d be more knowledgeable? America has no official language. Honestly, the most common language in the majority of Florida is Spanish, not “American.” Can I also take a moment to remind everyone that there are very few true Americans in this region? This country was built on criminals and trouble makers from other countries who decided they didn’t like King George III and his rules. We are all foreigners, and especially in this region. The steel mills were often run by “hunkies” from the old country: Poland, Czechoslovakia and Austria. What is America made of? People running away from their countries, and yet in today’s era we deny immigrants these basic rights that we used to build this country? Another problem for small-minded people is that America is immune to third world problems like persecution and slavery. Recently there was an article on Yahoo! News about a New York woman, Annie George, having a slave girl from India in her house. When discussing it with several friends, they all denied that was possible. However, I have read probably a dozen books on girls who were kidnapped from their homes in Africa and sold into slavery. There is a particular book, Slave, written by Mende Nazer, that spurred this thought process. She was born in the Nuba Mountains, and was captured by Arab slave traders when she was 12. After eight years she was in London, cleaning the house of a political diplomat, Abdel al-Koronky, when she was able to escape and write her story. Needless to say, many European governments won’t recognize Nazer or her story as being true. If governments did this, then they would have to do something about the active slave trade, and none of the governments wish to get involved in Africa’s problems. In a world of constant migration and travel, being of a small mind is not practical. America is not exempt from problems other countries experience. In fact, we have those same issues, yet we sweep them under the carpet. Foreigners made this country, so why are we stopping more culture-rich people from trying a new life in our towns? Slavery is a very real problem in developed nations, even though governments turn a blind eye to it all. People who are small-minded really need to broaden their horizons and learn to accept the world as it is and get out of this idea that they are above everything and everyone else. The world develops quickly, and we can no longer spend our days thinking that everything and everyone is as go-happy as we are. Open your eyes and mind to the world, not just the kittens and rainbows we all want to see, but the cold hard facts of slavery, racism and the fact that America and the people living in it are no better than anyone else in the world.