“America is to blame,” my local radio station quoted the mother of the Boston bombings suspects.
Soon after the standoff with the two brothers ended, this recorded news report played over and over.
At first, I was incensed.
How dare she say that America is to blame for this atrocity? To blame us for her sons’ brutality.
And then, within weeks, I heard reports that a funeral director was trying to locate a burial plot for Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the eldest brother killed after his brother ran over him as he fled the face-off with police.
The night after they (allegedly) killed an MIT officer, then hijacked a car, holding another of our citizens hostage.
Boston didn’t want the remains.
Russia, his homeland, didn’t want his body.
The funeral director charged with caring for the deceased’s body was chastised by many for doing what he does, giving the dead dignity.
In the end, an American woman who lives by the philosophy “Jesus said love your enemies,” helped to locate a resting place on American soil.
Americans, a nation of people grieving the loss of neighbors and innocents, treated this person whom some consider “evil” with all the compassion he gave to no one.
Sick from the convoluted irony of it all, I began thinking, Is America to Blame?
And this is what I believe about the country I love.
America is to blame for its obesity epidemic.
Yet, we blame McDonald’s for its burgers and Big Macs.
As if the corporation holds a proverbial gun to our heads.
And though many accusers are busy bashing this business, few will acknowledge its longstanding leadership in Green living, which goes way back to the three Rs…
The naysayers refuse to recognize all the good this conglomerate does.
Ronald McDonald Houses. (That also serve millions. Of people in need)…
Collaboration with nutrition and healthy living specialists like Bob Harper…
To the way it stays on the cutting edge of what society wants and needs…
Salad, Anyone? Wi-Fi? (Free with your visit?) Specialty beverages? Kid-Conscious?
One of my childhood friends got her start in management under those golden arches, some thirty years ago.
Today she heads up Operations for another Fortune 500 company.
I don’t see critics lambasting Five Guys for their freshly cut and fried potato pieces, or for their burgers, which I call (as juice runs down my arms) “heart attack on a bun.”.
I’m fat because I put too much food into my mouth and too many calories into my body.
Blame me, America.
America is to blame for allowing people to manipulate the very foundation of our freedoms.
The original Amendments to our Constitution were designed to protect our diversity, not to ensure that we will never face disagreeable and/or uncomfortable situations.
People are turning these additions into a form of reverse discrimination, and at times, are even trying to rewrite history.
You can’t pray because I don’t believe in God.
You can’t print/read Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn because I don’t like the word Negro.
Freedom of speech does not mean we can say whatever we want to whomever we want without consequence.
There is an eloquence in the chance timing of this piece and the heckling that took place during President Obama’s speech on Drones, earlier today.
And though Madea Benjamin was finally escorted from the press room—after repeated interruptions—she felt she had the right to be disrespectful and downright rude to our Commander in Chief and a room full of other guests.
America is to blame for enabling Takers and Users.
Our welfare system was designed to assist those individuals and families who had fallen on unfortunate circumstance.
And, yet, the system is bleeding from its benevolent aorta.
Some families are not only living on public assistance funds for generations, they are breeding it.
It is easier to live on welfare—where the absolute best medical, dental, optical, and preventative care is provided—than to work and live within your means.
And before you start screaming at me, yes, I have seen firsthand the struggles and quandaries that families face, knowing that this is the case.
Torn between hopelessness and honor, between moral and misuse.
Knowing that if they receive a paltry one-hundred dollar a month raise the added medical costs, alone, will far surpass their additional household earnings.
I’ve witnessed, again and again, those who Do to become self-sufficient, and those who Don’t.
Warren and I are a part of the Doers, those who fell on hard times and briefly needed a helping hand.
And I must say, this mama was thankful for the healthy cereal selections.
I might have even used it to my advantage when talking to my children about the importance of a good diet.
You know, it prevented that ole “Do as I say, not as I do.”
In recent years, America has allowed these Takers and Abusers to cry Discrimination, and to demand that they have the right to purchase whatever they want with their money.
I knew New York added itself to a list of states that had begun allowing the purchase of cigarettes and alcohol with public aid funds.
This community support is no longer called Welfare, by the way, it’s called Benefits.
But, really, can recipients gamble—participate in anything, just because it’s legal—with their Federally Funded Finances?!
Somebody, puh-leez say it ain’t so!
Since when do cigarettes and booze and gambling benefit America?
And when did Indulgencebecome a Right of the People?
America is to blame for not holding everyone accountable for their actions.
In addition to the Takers and Users, America houses millions of illegal immigrants.
People who broke the law when they entered this country without permission.
Some have gone on to live the American dream and to contribute great things to this land.
Some are innocents, children who were born here.
Being a compassionate, empathetic person, this next part is hard for me to say, but is, nonetheless, a grave truth.
No matter how much good someone might have done, or how blameless he might be, laws were still broken.
These Freedom seekers knew that, if they were caught, there would be consequences for their actions.
That deportation would be a likely outcome.
And that those repercussions could affect their children.
In an effort to create compromise and some sort of compassionate solution, The Dream Act was formed.
First introduced in 2001, this proposal—one that would serve the Innocents, children caught in the web of deceit—which would allow a conditional citizenship of sorts, still sits in limbo.
And yet, as a nation, we continue to turn the other cheek, to make excuses, and to allow Illegals to live—paradoxically—legally among us, free to come and go at will.
We support many of them financially. We provide education and health care and sanctuary from what they fear in their homelands.
And we allow this in the name of Freedom, Justice, and Right.
In doing so, this message rings loud and clear: The rules don’t apply to everyone.
America is to blame for its naivety,
Though it is unfair to stereotype a gender, race, or religion by the actions of a few, are we not foolish to continue an open door policy by allowing entry to citizens coming from countries that are hostile toward America?
Why do we continue to provide the privilege of freedom—liberties that our forefathers fought and died for—and other benefits like subsidized and/or free education and health care and housing and food to those who abuse independence and break the law?
According to these stories, at least one of the Tsarnaev brothers was receiving public assistance, while the mother and father had fled the country after she was charged with felony shoplifting and subsequently jumped bail.
Additionally, it is purported that Tamerlan hadn’t received citizenship due to an attack on his girlfriend (an incident his father minimizes), while the younger Dzhokhar was failing the majority of his classes at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.
Why were they still here?
Are we gullible or simply afraid of those who bluster and strong-arm and manipulate Freedom and Justice and Right?
Are we so afraid of Uprising and Lawsuits and Court Battle that we refuse to nurture our great nation with Tough Love?
Are we creating our own types of terrors by allowing disrespect to our flag and manipulation of all it stands for?
Has Fear become our greatest threat?
We, the people, are conflicted about compassion and commandments, law and love, honor and honesty…
And in our confusion, is Injustice becoming the new face of Justice?
Do you think we are contributing to our country’s conflicts, that some of the onus lies within each of us? Do you feel America is to blame for any of our troubles with our neighbors, be they near or far? Sound off.