I'm in an argument right now, and frankly I'm mad. I don't do confrontation well. In fact, I tend to avoid it, even if it means walking three blocks out of the way or smiling through gritted teeth and causing myself TMJ pains. My husband is an arguer, a devil's advocate born and raised, but he knows not to mess with me (I cry, and he hates that), so it's not with him I'm arguing.

Someone told me that America and Americans suck, that we're all arrogantly insisting on some sort of extravagant lifestyle, the rest of the world be damned, and that we should expect the rest of the world to hate us as long as we're like this. 

First of all, those sort of all-or-nothing statements are rarely if ever true, especially not with a population of 300 million. All Americans are not all anything. We're as diverse as the population of the whole world.

My point was that I shouldn't be judged for the action of my country, that I should only be judged for my personal actions and choices. This seems very rational and logical to me. Does it not?

I can't help where I was born. I love America and the advantages and privileges it has given me. But I've very conscious of those, and I try my hardest to spread my blessings around. That's all anyone can ask of one person I think-- to live a thoughtful, charitable, and peaceful life. If we all did that, think of how the world would be.

I guess her point is that America is a terrible place full of self-absorbed people, which if all you have to go by is tv would appear true. But once you get in here and meet real people, I don't see how you could still think that. Yes, America has made a lot of mistakes (A LOT), but I can't fix past mistakes, and I can't right past moral wrongs, and I can't change the minds of an entire 300-million country full of folks. So I live my life to the best of my ability. It seems to me like that should be enough.