An Open Letter to the People of the World
by Patrice Brymner
Dear People of the World,
We write in peace to properly introduce ourselves to you. We, the citizens
and residents of the United States of America, are a collection of souls
from all corners of the Earth, living together as a single nation, united
in fundamental principles.
We cherish life, personal liberty and freedom of expression. The men
we call our forefathers, founded this nation on the inspired ideal that
all men are not just created equally, but can live together in peace
and harmony, while being free to worship if and how they choose, and
free even to assemble against our government, if they so choose. In
our pursuit of this ideal, we have made great strides and numerous contributions
to the planet. We have also, at times, failed.
We have sometimes been careless and hurtful. We have also wounded ourselves
at times, and recently we have been wounded deeply by the actions of
others. The pain we feel now will either harden us or soften us, but
we will not likely be as we were. We do not seek to fully catalog our
contributions, justify our transgressions or portray ourselves simply
as victims. Rather, we wish to address honestly some of our choices,
for better or worse, and ask that you know us more fully.
In our very early years, some among us, by choice or and by inheritance,
held men, women and children as slaves. We, and others in the world,
captured and imported human beings to our land. We bought them, sold
them and profited from their labor as though they were less than human.
This abomination did not stand. Slavery on our shores, and its too slow
demise, led to the only instance of civil war within our borders. That
bloody war cost us many young lives, but resulted in the freedom of
many more. We have worked hard to ameliorate the effects of slavery
and work remains to be done.
Since then we have at times sought to profit from the labor of others
less fortunate than us in other nations. Our corporations have employed
men, women and children to produce goods for our consumption in exchange
for wages, and under conditions that would not be tolerated here. We
have also at times stripped resources from the lands of other nations
without providing fair compensation. Many among us have protested these
practices and continue to do so. Work on this front remains to be done.
We have at times supported foreign governments where we believed such
support to be to our benefit. We have often failed to consider how such
support might affect others on the planet. At times, such support has
led to disaster and heartbreak for people who did not enjoy the benefit
we sought for ourselves. Some among us have believed that these actions
were justified if taken in the pursuit of exporting our principles.
Some among us have simply felt that we were entitled to take these actions.
Others among us have spoken out loudly against these actions. We are
not united in this regard, and work remains to be done.
Even while we were performing these acts, we were feeding the hungry
in other nations, supplying medicine and providing shelter where needed.
We have come to the aid of people the world over when wars, unrest or
natural disasters have devastated your lands and your peoples. We have
also sought to keep our borders open and we have educated many of your
sons and daughters in our schools, returning doctors, engineers and
great scholars to your nations. We have accepted refugees from the world
over and allowed travelers of all kinds to move about this land and
enjoy the beauty and benefits of this nation.
We love and cherish what we have created for better or worse, and it
is our nature to want to share it. Some would say we have shared too
little with the rest of the world, others would say we have shared too
much. But we are a young nation and we can learn from our mistakes.
Perhaps we have been arrogant and not heard the cries of protest against
our actions clearly. Perhaps we have failed to respect your wishes or
respond to your requests. We are listening now. Our hearts and minds
are open. We ask that you listen as well, with open minds and open hearts.
We have so much work yet to do and we have so much we’d like to
offer you. We seek to come into our maturity that we might share with
all of you whatever we might create for the benefit of all. If we have
been bullies, if we have been greedy, if we have offended you or hurt
you in any way, we are sorry. It is not our heartfelt desire to harm
others, to impose our ideals upon those who do not welcome them, or
to take from anyone that which they would not give to us freely. Where
we have blundered, forgive us.
We ask now that you know us as your brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers,
husbands and wives, as we wish to come to know you all. As we reach
out now in friendship, please reach out to us that we may all shine
as one world, brilliant in potential and innocent in our hearts. Together,
as children on this Earth, we can move to reconcile our differences
and recognize the connection between us all at the very core of humanity.
Our approaches may differ in our pursuit of the common goal of peace,
but we need not all live, worship and create identically. Let us let
one another care for our families, raise our children, grow our crops,
tend to our livelihoods and revere our aged.
With respect and love, we thank you,
America
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