United Nations Day

I was listening to random music on my computer and the song, "Let there Be Peace on Earth," started to play. Usually this song makes me laugh at how UN-ish (United Nations) it sounds…but today it caused me to reflect. Going to school in the Philippines was fun; we had so many all-school events/festivals like UN Day. That was the celebration I immediately thought about when the song came on. During UN Day, the whole school would celebrate all the different countries students were from. In my class we had people from the Middle East, Korea, Japan, Italy, the Philippines (of course) and the US.

During the festival, people would bring in food from the specific country they were from and everyone would have a feast! The Americans would bring Chili and brownies every year, I remember being so proud of my mom’s chili because it tasted so good! She and a few other moms would wear blue jeans and white shirts with red bandanas. Red, White, and Blue. I remember feeling so proud to be an American, but also very proud to LOVE Asian food. Janna and I would get Filipino, Japanese, Indian, and Korean food each year! It was a blast going to each booth and eating the food, learning about the country and just enjoying the different ethnicities represented. Even when I was in elementary school and 6th and 7th grade, I thought it was cool that so many countries were found on Brent School’s campus.

Another common part of UN Day, were the plays that every class would have to perform for the parents. Usually these plays were about peace and countries coming together and cooperating. They were all usually pathetic, but it was just another reason to perform for our parents and for our class to work together as a group. The reason all of these memories flooded my mind was because each year we would sing "Let There Be Peace on Earth"…so now seven, eight years later, I am missing UN Day and the community I felt at Brent International.

Sometimes it seems like the U.S. doesn’t acknowledge other countries like the rest of the world. The closest they get is Black History Month. But in some ways it feels like the only reason they celebrate is because the States feels bad for the horrible slavery that happened in this country. From an early age, the schools and just the culture pump their kids with thoughts of "The U.S is the best country in the world." "America can beat any country in war." "You are privileged to grow up and live in the States." "The rest of the world wishes they could be like America." Maybe those are exaggerations, but I felt and saw those thoughts when I moved here. Yes, America is blessed. Yes, Americans can travel anywhere without much of a problem (except for maybe France and the Middle East). And both those things are good, but where is the gratefulness? The humble thanksgiving for the blessing? I don’t know. I have to say that there are days where I am thankful to be an American. But more often I am glad I was born somewhere else and have an appreciation for other countries. I am glad I was given the ability, through my years overseas, to take a step back and look at America and see it from the outside in.