KaylynFr80

The time of America reigning supreme has come to an end.  Our forces once considered the best have deteriorated from our meddling in other's affairs.  According to Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek, "...for the first time in living memory-the United States does not seem to be leading the charge. Americans see that a new world is coming into being, but fear it is one being shaped in distant lands and by foreign people."  No longer do we have our former strength of the world's superhero.  We must learn not to stick our fingers in every pie as we did in the last century.  The time has come for our policy to change.  We cannot go back to isolationism of pre-World War II.  Nor may we continue to show ourselves as the giant.  We must stand aside for other nations, else become swept away in the currents of change.  America should only intervene in several cases.  We must intervene when other threaten us with direct hostilities, our Allies with a noble reason ask us to do so, and when situations occur that may directly cause Americans harm or have resulted from American actions.  Our government needs to realize that it can no longer jump the gun.

            When our nation intervenes, several consequences may occur.  Peace and stability may rise, the people may show gratitude, and we also may well gain allies of importance.  Just like in school, one's actions determine our reputation.  From an intervention our reputation may turn sour or sweet.  Remember when we first invaded Iraq?  Some Iraqi parents named their children after our beloved and so adored president.  The media showed us that the people wanted Saddam gone and loved America for it.  We have overstayed our welcome as Benjamin Franklin would have pointed out, "Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days".  In the other side of the moon that our government did not wish for us to see of Iraq beforehand, there lurks death, violence and fear from when we intervened in Iraq.  With times that we jumped the gun, like Iraq, there also exists times when we should have meddled.

    Look at Sierra Leone in the 1990's, as depicted in the movie, Blood Diamond.  Our wish for a nice shiny diamonds for our loved ones leads to death for others.  At this time we should have come and helped the UN out or at least imposed a ban on diamonds with questionable backgrounds, with few loopholes in it.  The people of Sierra Leone had to wait for ten, not one, not five, but a whole entire ten years, before anyone of the international community stepped forward.  According to Leonardo DiCaprio's character, Archer, "... [It's] all about who gets what". 

     As humans we shouldn't stand by and let these things happen.  We do need limits, but we also need to outrun the greed of our age.  The character of Solomon Vandy, as victim of the civil war of Sierra Leone in the movie, asks the reporter, "The people in your country, when they see this, will they help us"?  We must realize that a time comes for everything, and we must make decisions wisely.  One of the most memorable quotes from Blood Diamond, "Let us learn from this voice, let us ignore it no more", on listening to all, not just our filtered information as we as a nation must act in the correct times or face the consequences.