In a state of confusion. That's me.

I tend to be accepting  of Russian ways. Putin ways, in a manner. Because I’m an American. And I’ve decided to take a less than holier-than-thou approach to life. Which, I admit, is rather un-American.  Most Americans, especially politicians, are very, very judgmental of other people. Other nationalities. Americans often think of themselves as superior. Therefore, they can dictate the ways of the world. The Russians are alleged to have violated international law. For the incursion into Crimea. And maybe soon into the rest of Ukraine. Naughty. Naughty. Naughty Russia. Naughty Putin. The Russians must pay an economic price. With sanctions. And being ostracized by the rest of the western world. Namely, the American European allies. We Americans divide the world into good guys and bad guys. And we are the very, very good ones. Doesn’t matter that we have made obscene and immoral incursions of our own. Into Iraq. And Afghanistan. And our long, long history is filled with examples of denial of basic human rights to all sorts of people. . Even in our country. We eradicated the native Americans. Committed genocide. We enslaved black people. And really never set them free. Even after the Civil War. We have denied women equal rights and equal pay.  The most powerful rich Americans often are self-righteous and pompous asses. Ready to take non-Americans to task. For being too much like Americans. Bullies and autocrats. The politically elite and most powerful rich Americans even detest our own middle class. They claim the poor deserve to be poor. And the rich, of course, deserve to become ever-richer. And if you don’t agree with that premise, you don’t deserve to be an American. So, I’m concluding, that maybe it’s better for me to be a Russian. Or at least a Russian sympathizer. Another possibility. As long as I have a revered Italian true love, and live with her much of the time, maybe I’d be better off becoming an Italian. I’m beginning to feel more at home in Italy. And I have a yearning to visit Russia. I’d love to shake the hand of Vladimer Putin. Maybe all this makes me a confused American. Which may be the equivalent of a true American. Oh, well. For now, I’ll just try being true to my confusing self. –Jim Broede