Thanks everyone for your comments, especially those with personal stories highlighting the non-violent nature of most human beings, including Americans. THere's hope in that!

Yet such facts as these still remain - that the US spends five times as much as any other nation on it's military ($399 billion last year, as compared with the $80 billion of the second highest nation, and Canada's lowly $7.9 billion according to a list pdc posted on another recent thread). Although it seems obvious, just why is this if war is not the expected and historically accepted "American Way" of dealing with international conflict?

- That the US rates for childhood homicide, suicide and firearm-related death are five times higher than any other industrialized nation (click here for the American study and scroll down to the graph at the bottom of the page for easy reference). That's a significant difference! Why is this so, if American culture does not somehow "breed" the ideology/expectation/acceptance of violence as a solution to problems?

- That the homicide rates in major US cities are at third-world, rather than first-world levels;

- And that according to the current US administrations "Project for a New American Century", the American people are now to rule the world by force, using any and all means necessary to enforce their interests and principles whenever and upon whoever they see fit, with no regard for international law or opinion. As we are currently witnessing in Iraq.

This is the part that threatens me the most - hence my concern at the apparent lack of self-awareness among many - not all, but seemingly a majority of Americans. I believe that the author of the first article I linked to has some very vital keys to understanding why this is so - and those keys found in the education system, among other places. I find these comments of particular interest: "Americans have little genuine understanding of the major role played by war throughout the American experience.

Historians, however, are well aware that war taught Americans how to fight, helped unite the diverse American population, and helped stimulate the national economy, among other significant things. But this is not the message that they have presented to the American people, concerned perhaps they might undermine Americans' self-image.

... The explanation lies, first, with historians' abdication of responsibility systematically to deal with the issue of violence in America ... and, second, with the American population's refusal directly to confront any very ugly reality – which came first I do not know. This is what historians refer to as " mutual causation."

On a more personal level, my sister has lived near Ft. Lauderdale Florida for over 20 years now, and the changes in her attitudes/behavior are quite remarkable when it comes to violence/expectation of violence. She's carried a handgun in her purse for a couple years now, seems to think that it's just not safe to leave home without it, that it's just a natural everyday thing to carry a gun for personal safety. Such an attitude - or need - would have been unthinkable to her before she left Canada, as it continues to be for the rest of the family! I find it hard to imagine what it must be like to feel so threatened by violence that you'd "need" to a gun to go to the corner store - and nor would I ever want to!

daylia