RE: this applies to Iran and Iraq as well!

["Shahab Mesbah" <meteor2@moscow.com>]

Perhaps... it is easy for us to infringe on other peoples freedoms, however.
We tend to give up freedom as we prosper. We get a little lazy and as I have
mentioned before freedom and democracy are not easy... they require constant
vigilance. We have the freedom to raise our children with great education
here but we, as parents, are rarely involved in our children's lives. We
look upon schools as babysitters and once the children hit 18 we kick them
out of the house and declare that we are raising independent self-reliant
children. On the other hand we have the right to vote but very few of us
actually do so and many who do, do so with little knowledge of the issures
or the candidates. We tend to be easily strayed by sensationalism and fluff
and resist the hard truth. We have a duty to involve ourselves in the
governance of our society yet few of us actually do so. I understand that if
we are attacked we rise and react but we are not acting responsibly for our
freedom. Alas we have already lost so many freedoms... we have hired people
to make decisions for us. We have a huge hierarchy of government
professionals who, as many point out regularly on this list, are charged
with making decisions for us. We are so easily distracted by meaningless
hype and miss the real facts. We are not good citizens my friends. We have
lost the perspective... we have gone beyond taking it for granted... one day
we will awake and wonder where our beloved country went! The apathy we
suffer from is historically significant. It is this apathy that has allowed
such inequity in our world. Yes... we will react to attacks but why can we
not be wise enough to see it coming and prevent it. What is it you say... an
ounce of prevention...? Why do we have to be so reactive instead of
proactive. Why do we need to be awakened with a sledgehammer?

Great sorrow engulfs me when I think about the path our society has chosen.
We have chosen the easy way for so long. We have taken freedom from our
children. We are about to spend a lot of money on mistakes of the near past
which will result in the enslavement of our children... they are the ones
who will pay for our apathy and lack of vision. My heart breaks.

"Your brother in arms"
Shahab...


-----Original Message-----
From: Mark and Julie Miller [mailto:mjmiller@moscow.com]
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 5:22 PM
To: Shahab Mesbah; Melynda Huskey; vision2020@moscow.com
Subject: Re: this applies to Iran and Iraq as well!

Shahab,

I'm glad that you value freedom and I am also glad that you were able to
come to this country to realize it.  Your statement that "as a nation" the
rest of don't value it is a little off line.  We may "seem" to not value it,
but I can assure you it is paramount in our beliefs.  The problem that most
of have is that freedom is all we have ever known and we may take it a
little for granted.

If anyone hints to us that they are going to try to take our freedom away,
or even infringe on it, our wrath will be unleashed.  I think that is what
you are seeing from the vast majority of us now.

Mark Miller
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shahab Mesbah" <meteor2@moscow.com>
To: "Melynda Huskey" <melynda_h@hotmail.com>; <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 4:56 PM
Subject: RE: this applies to Iran and Iraq as well!


> Speaking for myself... I came here because of the freedom. I am, however,
> saddened by how little we as a nation seem to value it. We cannot forget
> LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. This is what we are all about. Without it we
> would be no different than Iran.
>
> "Your brother in arms"
> Shahab...
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Melynda Huskey [mailto:melynda_h@hotmail.com]
> Sent: Monday, September 24, 2001 10:58 AM
> To: vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: RE: this applies to Iran and Iraq as well!
>
> At 09:22 AM 09/22/2001 -0500, P C wrote:
> >I see a lot of people who come to this country, enjoy all of its
> >benefits and freedoms, and then ridicule the hell out of it any >chance
> >they get.  A lot of people are sick of this.
>
> If I'm not mistaken, one reason all of us immigrants (and we are all
> immigrants except the Nez Perce around here) came to this country was the
> lure of constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of speech, which included our
> right and responsibility to scrutinize and critique every action
undertaken
> by our representatives in the government.  Ridicule, dissent, and
contention
> are, as they say, features, not bugs, in the system.  As for getting sick
of
> it, well, the alternative is one I'd really choke on:  totalitarianism.
>
> Melynda Huskey
> melynda_h@hotmail.com
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp
>