America the Beautiful
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
As an Arab raised in America, I think America has a lot of beauty that is absent in a lot of Arab countries.
Democratic leadership; the president can only serve a maximum of 8 years, and can be voted out in 4 or impeached before 4 years. Too many Arab countries have had the same leader or monarch family for decades living like kings in a land of poor peasants.
Freedom of Religion; I did not appreciate Islam until I was 24, having tried almost all the religions available in America. Many Arabs raised in Arab countries do not realize the full Truth of Islam because inter-religious dialog is considered offensive. These Arabs can realize how much Islam shines compared to other religions to the point that they would want to share the light of Islam with the world as I do.
Freedom of Speech; When you can speak harshly of the government without fear of punishment, then you have accountability. When you have accountability, then you have justice.
The Freedom in America allows one to have their thoughts and ideas soar like an eagle without fear.
Many of the worlds top inventors came from America, the car, the phone, the internet, etc..., giving America an economic lead ahead of the rest of the world.
The Arab countries also have some beauty, the beauty of Islam as spread by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), but the lack of democratic leadership in Arab countries does not allow the full beauty and truth of Islam to be known and economic prosperity to be felt by the people in Arabia.
After 9/11, as an Arab American, I have seen many Americans offer help to us, because they realized that Arabs in America were dual victims to the terrorist attacks, Arab Americans were also attacked, as hundreds of Muslims were in the WTC, and we were victims of ethnic / religious hate crimes post 9/11. Most Americans were not racist and the ones who attacked Arabs in America were the same ones who have been attacking African Americans for decades.
The important thing is not to judge an entire country or an entire religion or race of people based on the actions of a few. I don't think an entire country should be attacked or destroyed to just go after a few men.
I support America's effort to rebuild Iraq, the years of U.N. sanctions were hurting the Iraqi people, not the few that America wanted to go after. I support America trying to help spread democratically elected leaders in the Middle East.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and I believe the American dream is alive and well, as long as freedom to choose is present, then you have justice, economic growth, and equal representation between the people and the government instead of poor peasants and kings.
Maybe I have been reading too much of what Thomas Friedman writes, this has not always been my opinion (and all this is just my opinion and does not represent what others may or may not think). I have spent from childhood to manhood in America and have also spent over a year in the Middle East and these are my personal matured observations.
"O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain, For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain, America, America, Allah shed His will on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea"
Peace.
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