LdB wrote: "Our efforts to learn about the world, to learn foreign languages, to travel with curiosity, to invite foreigners into our homes were trivial, and we are now paying the cost in ignorant policies and attitudes toward others."
Thank you for saying so simply and eloquently what is the genesis of the problem, in my opinion, that we have lost our curiosity and sense of discovery, whether bred by arrogance or pride, both manifested in provincialism. We have become our own worst enemies in this way. But I have not given up hope that we will regain the energy to explore, rather than just stagnate culturally. -KWC -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Lawrence DeBivort Sent: Saturday, August 30, 2003 1:54 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [Futurework] Will Bush become a Shia Moslem? Threats and defenses.... Good points, Brad. But I think this is much a self-inflicted fear; we were welcome world-wide after WWII, but in our arrogance also decided that this meant we could do whatever we wanted. Our efforts to learn about the world, to learn foreign languages, to travel with curiosity, to invite foreigners into our homes were trivial, and we are now paying the cost in ignorant policies and attitudes toward others. This seems like a great tragedy to me. I do believe that the world could have used our contribution (described in an earlier email), and we theirs, and that together we could have created a pretty positive world for ourselves and our children. In a profound way, I fear that the US has removed itself from the society of cooperative peoples, and that not only are we facing greater and greater isolation, but we, and the rest of the world will be the worse off for the division. Best regards, Lawry _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
