So many countries coming together in one place. So many different cultures, religions, races, and languages all mixed together in one building. So many differences, yet they were all put aside in the presence of one another. So many people representing their country and being proud of them, despite the current struggles that some of them may be facing at that very moment. So much joy, peace, pride, unity, and excitement. Watching the Opening Ceremony of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil brought me hope. If that many people from different continents and countries can peacefully be amongst one another like that, then why can’t the world be that way? What is the problem? Why is there so much war, terror, invasions, poverty, and hatred? Who is the problem?
If you take a big look at what exactly is going on in the world, you would see that one of the main problems is government. It is the governments that invade other countries in order to take control of their resources and force them to take up a similar type of government as them. It is the governments that have a fascination with imperialism. It is the governments that drop bombs on innocent women, men and children in struggling countries. It is also the governments that starve their people of their resources and are corrupt and harmful to their own people. The government is supposed to represent the people. However, looking at the peacefulness of the Olympics, is that even true? In today’s society, governments have so much control and have so much corruption that it is almost impossible to say that a government represents the people of their country. There were countries whom were currently in conflict or had been in conflict; yet that was not evident in the atmosphere of the Opening Ceremony. Doesn’t that show that it is governments that are in conflict with one another, not the people?
Of course there are people who wholeheartedly agree with their politicians and representatives. There are people who believe in their government and express support of everything that they do. There are people who agree with their government declaring war, are fine with the persecution of others within its own country, ignore the inequality, and remain intentionally or unintentionally blind to the corruption. However, does that represent the whole?
Most of the hatred stems from government officials putting fear of people from other countries into their citizens’ hearts and causing xenophobia. Government officials use the fear that some people have of people in their country to allow persecution to happen. Government officials choose one side (usually the majority) and fuels their fear and anger, sometimes causing a civil war. Government officials influence supremacy amongst a certain group of people which in turn causes inequality and racism. Yet sometimes it is not the government. It is the clash of different religions and customs that cause some tension. Labels, as shallow as it is, can create superiority and supremacy amongst a group of people. People think that because they are Christians they are superior to Muslims, or because they are straight they are superior to the LGBTQ community. What people fail to realize is that sexuality, religion, political parties, etc are labels that usually (emphasis on “usually”) do not represent the way that person is.
When a person says that they are proud of their homeland, they may not be speaking of the government. They may be speaking of their culture, the riches in their land, their diversity, their struggles — the things that make them different from everyone else. Their struggles as a people are what make them a nation. It is just sad to see that what many nations are struggling against is their own government.
