{"id":26,"date":"2009-05-24T12:41:46","date_gmt":"2009-05-24T12:41:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayethics\/2009\/05\/still-room-for-national-boundaries.html"},"modified":"2009-05-24T12:41:46","modified_gmt":"2009-05-24T12:41:46","slug":"still-room-for-national-boundaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/05\/still-room-for-national-boundaries.html","title":{"rendered":"Still Room for National Boundaries?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Americanflag.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>I recently got into a somewhat heated discussion with a close friend. It wasn’t meant to be heated – I’d asked a pretty simple question, “Do you think you care more about what happens to an American vs. what happens to, say, a Canadian?” Cue fireworks! Okay, so maybe the question wasn’t so innocuous. <\/p>\n

<\/font><\/font>
<\/font><\/p>\n


\nI broached this question with this
\nspecific friend because I felt her values were closest to mine –
\ncenter, skewing left, more spiritual than religious, and because she
\ngenerally likes to think of herself as a decent person with an interest
\nin the world (I’d like to think the same).  In reality, I’d asked a
\npretty loaded question, and she reacted defensively.  What began as a
\nquiet conversation quickly became an argument, perhaps because we both
\nwanted the answer to be ‘Of course!’ — and it wasn’t.  <\/p>\n

So, why do we care more about what’s happening to those in our country?
\nIs my own sincere concern limited to somewhat arbitrary lines drawn on
\na map? <\/p>\n

I thought I came up with a quick but solid answer; we tend to care more
\nabout people in this country because they live near us, they share our
\nculture, our jokes, our food. It’s not so much about that big concept
\n“Patriotism” as it is about comfort. <\/p>\n

But take that answer a bit further and we’re left with the fact that
\nLouisiana is as unfamiliar to me as Montreal, and Alaska might as well
\nbe Argentina. English has become more or less ubiquitous, though at the
\nsame time there are portions of the U.S. I would have trouble
\nnavigating because I took high school French instead of Spanish. Our
\ncountry is huge, and our cultures vary wildly. We’ve entered the age of
\nthe global community. So, to use two natural disasters as comparison,
\nwhy did Katrina hit our hearts harder than Nargis?
 
\nOh, and side-note: I ask you – and myself – this question ignoring
\nthose practical matters such as politics, the economy and nationality.
\nI’m more interested in examining the limitations weighing on the
\n“goodness of my heart”.  <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recently got into a somewhat heated discussion with a close friend. It wasn’t meant to be heated – I’d asked a pretty simple question, “Do you think you care more about what happens to an American vs. what happens to, say, a Canadian?” Cue fireworks! 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In addition to writing for a various print and online publications, such as Parenting Magazine and iVillage, she was the Website Manager for the Henry Street Settlement, a social services and arts organization serving Manhattan's Lower East Side. Most recently, she worked on the Thai-Myanmar border as a writer for the Burma Human Rights Yearbook. Her curiosity about human nature, coupled with duel streaks of idealism and Midwestern pragmatism, developed into an ongoing discussion with friends, family and strangers on ethical quandaries. When she's not asking \"Why?\" you might have trouble finding her, as her hobbies include nosing around used bookstores, exploring the world (near and far), meeting new people and occasionally twiddling her thumbs while daydreaming.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/author\/pmangunta"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/198"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}