Probably the best thing Ronald Reagan ever said in his life. I wish I was a bit more worldly (although I know I am a helluva lot more worldly than 99% of my fellow Americans), but, I wish I knew FOR REAL what sort of impact this statement has had…20 years later…in general, Americans are woefully ignorant of the REAL goings on in countries other than our own (and it is embarrassing to say how woefully ignorant so many are of their own country!)
My hubby and I often have discussions about things happening in other countries and he ALWAYS assumes that they don’t do as much as we do or act in compasionate ways like we do or go to bat for other countries like we do (there is the assumption here that we are just these amazing d0-gooders). Now, he is a VERY INTELLIGENT person, but I consistently point out that he has no reason to think that way because WE DON’T KNOW how other countries are acting or not acting. We only get a teeny tiny slice of their news/views…why is that?
Why is it that it seems that Europeans know a whole lot more about us and what we do than we know about them? How is it they get the news, but we don’t? I’ve started to make a habit of listening to the BBC on XM-Sirius radio, to learn more, be more informed, understand the issues that others deal with…could it be that they are indeed more worldly than we are just by virtue of the fact that they all learn multiple languages (including English- sometimes the Queen’s English) in school?
I don’t know, but, I don’t like being ill informed…so, as I continue the retirement countdown, I am going to add one more thing to my ‘bucket list’…LEARN MORE about the entire world around me …I WANT to know…now that the wall is down and apparently down for good.
