Us; we; our; etc. Who are 'we' talking about here?
"Get to the point," you may already be saying. This question comes to mind when i think about the 3,000 people who died in the 9/11 attacks. And then when i think of the 300,000 people who died in the tsunami a couple years ago in southeast Asia. It was brought
to my attention that we don't mourn the 300,000 as much as the 3,000 because they are not 'us.' Presumably under this definition of 'us', we are speaking of Americans. Though i suppose it could mean, "North Americans," or "Westerners," as well.SO who are 'we'? Are we Americans? or perhaps are we humans? Earthlings? Children of God? Humanity? However we define, 'us,' I think we all have to recognize, we humans, are all in this together, whether we like it or not. We are all God's children, and as i tell my kids all the time while they hit and yell at each other, "You are brothers, act like it. Brother don't hurt brothers or make them feel sad."
They seem to get that, now if only We could.
I've thought about this a lot recently... Especially after having lived in Kenya for six months - 3 and a half of them in an extremely poor and rural setting. It disgusts me to see the time, energy and attention that the American media (and followers of the media) give to "our" causes and "our" stories - which often ends up being extremely insignificant in light of the struggles overseas in so many places... There's a terrible famine in Kenya right now - and many people that I lived among are dying. And we're concerned about health care and what celebrities are doing... ugh. Anyways, yes, all that to say I agree - we are all in this together and I wish we Americans (and especially Christians) had a worldview that was more concerned about our sisters and brothers around the world than ourselves or our petty problems here in America.
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