In the wake of so much tragedy, I’m grateful to be an American.

As the world watched the City of Love experience the ultimate act of hate last week, our country remembered a similar heartbreak and has shown an enormous amount of empathy for the people in France in the days following. It makes me proud.

We all remember the anguish we felt in the days following Sept. 11, 2001, but I think our pain clouds the memories of various parts of the world reaching out to support us.

Pictures have been circulating on social media of an American flag laid out in front of the Eiffel Tower after the planes hit the World Trade Center, with military officials saluting our country to show that in one of our weakest times, the French had our backs.

So when Paris experienced a similar act of violence this weekend, I’m glad that in no time at all, the United States showed its support for our allies across the Atlantic.

There’s an old saying that goes, “it is both a blessing and a curse to feel everything so very deeply.”

Americans often fit into this category. As a collective whole, we hurt when others hurt. We’re angry when others are angry. We are an emotional bunch, and we aren’t afraid to show that emotion — because we have the right to do so.

To an extent, expressing our feelings is powerful. Millions of us have shown support for the French through Facebook profile pictures, yard signs, blog posts, political cartoons, flags, etc., and this positive portrayal of our emotions has tremendous potential to make an impact, but we must tread carefully in reacting to our feelings.

When bad things happen, it’s way too easy to focus on the bad, and that is understandable; it’s a terrible situation. With violent acts of this magnitude, emotions of fear, anger and sadness often cloud our judgment and we in turn act on those feelings. We search for places to point the blame, pick fights with those with different belief systems and criticize anyone we can to make ourselves feel better.

Too many people are attacking other religions, putting up their defenses and spewing hate speech and racial slurs.

But what does that solve?

It solves nothing.

It’s natural to be angry — and it’s perfectly OK to be, but we have the power to choose our reaction to that anger.

As Americans gather for their holiday meals this week and take turns announcing what they are thankful for this year, I hope they realize how lucky they are to live in a country that supports other countries in times of sadness, celebrates other countries’ achievements and does whatever it can to help in times of grief.

 

Ambrosia Neldon is the managing editor at Leader Publications. She can be reached by phone at (269) 687-7713, or by email at ambrosia.neldon@leaderpub.com.