This, from a Canadian newspaper,
is worth sharing.
America: The Good Neighbor.
Widespread but only partial news coverage
was given recently
to a remarkable editorial
broadcast from Toronto by Gordon Sinclair,
a Canadian television commentator.
What follows
is the full text of his trenchant remarks
as printed in the Congressional Record:
"This Canadian thinks
it is time to speak up for the Americans
as the most generous
and possibly the least appreciated
people on all the earth.
Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent
Britain and Italy,
were lifted out of the debris of war
by the Americans
who poured in billions of dollars
and forgave other billions in debts.
None of these countries is today
paying even the interest
on its remaining debts to the United States.
When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956,
it was the Americans who propped it up,
and their reward was to be insulted and swindled
on the streets of Paris.
I was there. I saw it.
When earthquakes hit distant cities,
it is the United States that hurries in to help.
This spring, fifty-nine American communities
were flattened by tornadoes.
Nobody helped.
The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy
pumped billions of dollars
into discouraged countries.
Now newspapers in those countries are writing about
the decadent, warmongering Americans.
I'd like to see
just one of those countries
that is gloating over the erosion
of the United States dollar
build its own airplane.
Does any other country in the world
have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet,
the Lockheed Tri-Star,
or the Douglas DC10?
If so, why don't they fly them?
Why do all the International lines
except Russia fly American Planes?
Why does no other land on earth
even consider putting a man or woman on the moon?
You talk about Japanese technocracy,
and you get radios.
You talk about German technocracy,
and you get automobiles.
You talk about American technocracy,
and you find men on the moon
~ not once, but several times ~
and safely home again.
You talk about scandals,
and the Americans put theirs
right in the store window for everybody to look at.
Even their draft-dodgers are not pursued and hounded.
They are here on our streets,
and most of them,
unless they are breaking Canadian laws,
are getting American dollars from ma and pa at home
to spend here.
When the railways of France, Germany and India
were breaking down through age,
it was the Americans who rebuilt them.
When the Pennsylvania Railroad
and the New York Central went broke,
nobody loaned them an old caboose.
Both are still broke.
I can name you 5000 times
when the Americans raced
to the help of other people in trouble.
Can you name me even one time
when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble?
I don't think there was outside help
even during the San Francisco earthquake.
Our neighbors have faced it alone,
and I'm one Canadian
who is damned tired
of hearing them get kicked around.
They will come out of this thing
with their flag high.
And when they do,
they are entitled to thumb their nose
at the lands that are gloating
over their present troubles.
I hope Canada is not one of those."
Stand proud, America!
This is one of the best editorials
that I have ever read regarding the United States.
It is nice that one man realizes it.
I only wish that the rest of the world
would realize it.
We are always blamed for everything,
and never even get a thank you for the things we do.
I would hope that each of you
would send this to as many people as you can
and emphasize that they should send it
to as many of their friends
until this letter is sent to every person on the web.
I am just a single American that has read this.
~author unknown~