The other day Wakana and I were watching TV and, as is usual in most programs, an act of violence occurred. She mentioned, half in fun, that she was afraid to go to the USA because it wasn't safe. That got me thinking about the picture of the USA we export to the rest of the world. I know it isn't normal (for Americans) to be introspective or concerned about how we look to the rest of the world but from the outside we do not come across the way our government hopes we do. Our movies and TV shows are loaded with violence and conflicting messages. In our media we casually kill off humans by the score but the puppies always survive. We require other countries to conform to attitudes and mores that we do not believe in ourselves.

As we are continually reminded we are the only remaining superpower on this planet. Yet the other countries of this world do not necessarily see us with the respect that we think we should get from them. I am reminded of the children who agree with their parent's directions only to then go off and do what they want anyway. Those same children inevitably roll their eyes at the parent.

Well, from the outside we are frequently the laughingstock of the world. The rest of the world has been through very tough times while we sat, fat, dumb, and happy, enjoying the best standard of life on the planet. Wakana frequently points out that I, and nobody I know in the USA, has ever been through truly tough times. Her aunt used to carry her father to school while her mother sold illegal rice on the black market. When she was old enough to work that aunt quit school and went to work to help support the family. I have met with that woman and shared a meal with her. She is happy and comfortable now but the stories she told to Wakana have left her feeling the emotional burden that her aunt carries.

There were no men in the family because they were drafted into the army and disappeared somewhere in the Pacific war zone. The USA has a few hundred men missing in action from the Viet Nam era. We work hard to try to find them. There are still missing men from the Korean Police Action and WWII. Japan has THOUSANDS of missing men from WWII. There was a reason why so many Japanese soldiers stayed in the jungle. Nobody knew where they were. Records were destroyed in the fire bombing and the bodies of soldiers who were killed in combat could not be recovered because there was usually nobody left alive after the battle. Plus the US Army was not concerned with recording the names of enemy soldiers before burying them.

It is easy in this day and age to look at Japan's success and forget where they came from but that is a mistake. The USA wants to export rice to Japan. But Japan is protecting its farmers, not because it is cheap but because they do not ever want to face starvation again. If trade is cut off from the outside they want to be able to feed their people. They have already faced starvation and it was enough to scare them.