This is said by one of my german freinds on another board. It was so "dead on" that i thought i would share it¨:
First I should say, that I am German.
There is no reason at all to be proud of being an American. Neither is there anyone to be proud of being German.
I am German, because my parents are, they are German, because my Grandparents were. Germany as a geographic country is just a line, someone put on a map a long time ago. This line changed it position through wars, some started by Germans, some started by the French, Dutch, Austrians, whoever, several times and it is nothing more but pure coincidence that I am German. I can't find anything in this fact, that could fill me up with pride.
As a country, Germany is a package of treaties and laws, but I personaly have not worked on at least one of them, so how could I be proud of them?
I am not proud of being German and I don't understand people how are proud of being German/French/British/American/whatever.
You have no reason to be proud, just because you have been born somewhere between the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, north of Mexico and south of Canada. And, unless your name is not George Washington, John Adams, Theodore or Frankling Rooseveld, John Kennedy or maybe even Bill Clinton, you also have not reason to be proud on being american, for you have done nothing more, to make the country and society the way it is today, than to live in it and that is quite little, isn?t it?
But allthough I can?t feel proud of being german, I can't deny, that I AM german. That means, that I also am european. And that means, that I have learned something from history, no American ever could have learned. War is terrible is terrible is terrible is terrible is terrible is terrible is terrible is terrible!!
And war always is against civilians. In Europe, there are a lot of small countrys, that battled each other for centuries. For these countrys are quite small (You could not go for more than 1000miles without reaching a border), all Europeans of times gone by have seen war. Europeans have seen, what it does to people. We know, what it means, being sieged, we know how it is, when your fields are scorched and your towns are burned.
Today, there are not lots of american civilians left, who know, how this feels. Maybe you should ask one of those, who have survived Pearl Harbour and even today, more than 60 years later start to cry when remembering this FEW hours of war. Ask them how it was to see war a few hours and than try to imagine, what it means, facing this for days, weeks, months or even years. Then you might realise, that bringing war to a country far away is not, what you would call an act of humanity.
You Americans DON?T know war and you should not try to pretend, you would know it. You have not seen a lot of wars on your own territory. Your civilians do not know, how it is to lie in cellars, while artillery shells or bombs drop around your house, you do not know the feeling, when your children are hungry, but there just is no food within 5miles you could get for them.
Europeans do. And that is, why we fear, yes FEAR, war and dare to not even be ashamed of it. That is, why we believe, that war is never a solution to political problems. And that is, why Europe today is a society, hold together by international agreements and friendship treaties and why all european states have given away some of its rights as independend nations to the European Union. And that is, why Europeans do not understand, why you Americans believe, the solution for the Iraq problem could be found in war.
You might not understand this, but you should try to respect it. Rumsfeld (whos origins lie in Germany) has called Germany and France ?the old Europe? that does not matter a lot and insulted many Germans and French by doing so.
But maybe you should think about this instead. Through a history ranging back for centurys, a culture has been grown, in which lots of nations live together and in peace. Maybe you should try to do the same then the exact opposite. You should say ?Hey, we want to do this, but we are not alone in the world and the rest of it, represented by the UN, does not want it so we obey and stand back in our so called national interests.? But you think, your national interest are worth more than the interests of the rest of the world and this is your greatest mistake and the reason, so many people troughout the world hate you.
As Americans, you should know something, called the freedom of speech. You must not believe the same, but you have to respect, that this is, what I believe. Several of your nations founders used a saying of Voltaire, I only know the German translation of, that sounds like this: ?I might damn, what you say, but I will give my life to ensure, that you are free to say it.? Stop talking about boycots, stop calling Germany and France ?old Europe? just think about Voltaires saying. And think about what I told you about the European sight on war.
And those of you, who now do not think about what I said but about the way I said it, the grammatical and orthographic bloopers in this text: First try to write a text about a theme this complex and sophisticated in another language than English then open your mouth.
God?s blessing upon thee, land of the free and home of the brave.
First I should say, that I am German.
There is no reason at all to be proud of being an American. Neither is there anyone to be proud of being German.
I am German, because my parents are, they are German, because my Grandparents were. Germany as a geographic country is just a line, someone put on a map a long time ago. This line changed it position through wars, some started by Germans, some started by the French, Dutch, Austrians, whoever, several times and it is nothing more but pure coincidence that I am German. I can't find anything in this fact, that could fill me up with pride.
As a country, Germany is a package of treaties and laws, but I personaly have not worked on at least one of them, so how could I be proud of them?
I am not proud of being German and I don't understand people how are proud of being German/French/British/American/whatever.
You have no reason to be proud, just because you have been born somewhere between the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean, north of Mexico and south of Canada. And, unless your name is not George Washington, John Adams, Theodore or Frankling Rooseveld, John Kennedy or maybe even Bill Clinton, you also have not reason to be proud on being american, for you have done nothing more, to make the country and society the way it is today, than to live in it and that is quite little, isn?t it?
But allthough I can?t feel proud of being german, I can't deny, that I AM german. That means, that I also am european. And that means, that I have learned something from history, no American ever could have learned. War is terrible is terrible is terrible is terrible is terrible is terrible is terrible is terrible!!
And war always is against civilians. In Europe, there are a lot of small countrys, that battled each other for centuries. For these countrys are quite small (You could not go for more than 1000miles without reaching a border), all Europeans of times gone by have seen war. Europeans have seen, what it does to people. We know, what it means, being sieged, we know how it is, when your fields are scorched and your towns are burned.
Today, there are not lots of american civilians left, who know, how this feels. Maybe you should ask one of those, who have survived Pearl Harbour and even today, more than 60 years later start to cry when remembering this FEW hours of war. Ask them how it was to see war a few hours and than try to imagine, what it means, facing this for days, weeks, months or even years. Then you might realise, that bringing war to a country far away is not, what you would call an act of humanity.
You Americans DON?T know war and you should not try to pretend, you would know it. You have not seen a lot of wars on your own territory. Your civilians do not know, how it is to lie in cellars, while artillery shells or bombs drop around your house, you do not know the feeling, when your children are hungry, but there just is no food within 5miles you could get for them.
Europeans do. And that is, why we fear, yes FEAR, war and dare to not even be ashamed of it. That is, why we believe, that war is never a solution to political problems. And that is, why Europe today is a society, hold together by international agreements and friendship treaties and why all european states have given away some of its rights as independend nations to the European Union. And that is, why Europeans do not understand, why you Americans believe, the solution for the Iraq problem could be found in war.
You might not understand this, but you should try to respect it. Rumsfeld (whos origins lie in Germany) has called Germany and France ?the old Europe? that does not matter a lot and insulted many Germans and French by doing so.
But maybe you should think about this instead. Through a history ranging back for centurys, a culture has been grown, in which lots of nations live together and in peace. Maybe you should try to do the same then the exact opposite. You should say ?Hey, we want to do this, but we are not alone in the world and the rest of it, represented by the UN, does not want it so we obey and stand back in our so called national interests.? But you think, your national interest are worth more than the interests of the rest of the world and this is your greatest mistake and the reason, so many people troughout the world hate you.
As Americans, you should know something, called the freedom of speech. You must not believe the same, but you have to respect, that this is, what I believe. Several of your nations founders used a saying of Voltaire, I only know the German translation of, that sounds like this: ?I might damn, what you say, but I will give my life to ensure, that you are free to say it.? Stop talking about boycots, stop calling Germany and France ?old Europe? just think about Voltaires saying. And think about what I told you about the European sight on war.
And those of you, who now do not think about what I said but about the way I said it, the grammatical and orthographic bloopers in this text: First try to write a text about a theme this complex and sophisticated in another language than English then open your mouth.
God?s blessing upon thee, land of the free and home of the brave.
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