Leading Into Phase 2, No Progress Seen

And that's OK with me. It is simply naive for us to think that our country is indestructible or infallible. Our acceptance of our mortality and vulnerability as a nation can be a positive thing, despite such a horrible means to this end.

Perhaps Sept. 11 can lead us to a realization that we should stop our imperialistic, blind attitude to the rest of the world. We can use our resources and power to make some necessary changes in the world.

Maybe this horrific attack can shake our values so strongly to force us to re-examine the way we live our lives as Americans.

And this indeed did happen.

Seven months ago today, our core values of safety, security and freedom toppled with the fall of two massive buildings and a strike on our nation's capital. Our stability and mortality were shaken at their very roots.

Before Sept. 11, Americans were like comets flying quickly through life.

But in the hours and days following Sept. 11, most everyone stopped for a moment to assess their own personal values. Some people made major changes in the way they prioritized, and the issues of family, community and safety became more important.

The thing is, we didn't really change permanently. Even some people who re-examined themselves are already back to normal today.

Living in the United States is a blessing. But it is far from the reality the rest of the world faces.

I studied abroad in West Africa this past summer and finally saw another perspective. For the first time, being white was a burden. People harassed me and called me names because I was different. I was seen as another white person and not as an individual.

I realized that this attitude was how this entire nation viewed the Western world. They saw whites and Americans as sources of money, referred to the United States as "the powerful U.S.A." and had such a reverence for our way of life -- a way of life they didn't even know.

People would call all the white females "Akosua," which means Sunday. In other words, they only understood white people as being Christian missionaries there to "help" change their society.

In reality, the Ghanaians couldn't have been anything other than bitter. How could they respect a group of people swooping in with their money and their intractable ideology and merely interfering with their lives?

With this in mind, it saddens me more to reflect upon what our nation has come to since September. We had a perfect opportunity to change our "powerful U.S.A." from the world's wealthy bully into the world's enabler. But maybe it's not about what we give to them but how we are perceived by them.

I keep thinking of the statistic that if all the world's people lived in the same standard of living as the United States, it would take six planet Earths to accommodate these needs. That's why the world hates us. We consume and take whatever we want without a second thought.

It is easy for others to blame the United States because, looking at the way we live -- the way we so blithely go on with our lives and take for granted even the core values that we only recently re-examined -- we are callous to everyone else in the world.

The bottom line is people still need help. We justify with "American ethics" the continuation of our capitalism -- being competitive and ignoring the pleas of people who need our help.

The attacks of Sept. 11 didn't change America the way it should have. We don't need to increase airport security, we need to make a permanent adjustment in American values. Seven months have passed, and we have entered "Phase 2" of our war on terrorism, but we are not attacking the root of the problem that the U.S. faces -- understanding different perspectives and our place in the world community.

There is a Ghanaian proverb that translates to "with patience one can successfully dissect an ant." In other words, with patience and understanding, America can undertake a new role of promoting a world of co-habitation, respect and potentially peace.

Johanna Costa can be reached at costa@email.unc.edu.