An open email to the American people

Dear American,

We need your help. Us, your neighbours around the world, have always admired your industriousness, ingenuity, and spirit of enterprise. We absorb your music, your movies, your language, fashion, books, your science and technology, and enjoy all of them while thanking you for it in sympathy. In return, we like to offer you what we're proud of in our own culture. We dream of your beautiful country, so vast and varied, where dreams can be realized. Because we also have dreams we want to realize, very similar to yours. Indeed, many of us have settled in your country to realize their dreams and their true potential. So you see, we look up to you in many ways.

Lately, we've been feeling a heavy weight on our shoulders. Insecure finances, dire politics, wars, poverty, terror - it's been tough on everyone. Most of us are forced to years of hard labour in order to secure a decent life for our families. We entertain ourselves as much as we can to forget the daily reality, but it often turns out to be a cheap substitute for real fulfillment. I'm sure you often feel the same.

Still, there's been a distance growing between the two of us. Your seeming support for your government's aggressive behavior is confusing, and we don't really know how to react to that. That's why when we see you, we're always torn between our innate sympathy for you, and our desire to shout at you!

Dude, all governments are corrupt. My government is *fucking* corrupt and it's no secret. Our whole country is knee-deep in corruption; it has reached us, the people who have become stupid, literally, because the education system is so corrupt. And we're the lucky ones: all our neighbors are screwed financially, politically and socially. Totalitarianism, poverty, civil wars, famines, invasions - including by your government, and that's the point: *they.are.all.corrupt* . In fact, one sometimes wonders if they aren't all fighting for a pie that no one is telling us about...

And don't tell me it's not happening to you too at home. If you can't figure it out for yourself watching the news, you surely know that many of your fellow Americans are expressing their discontent as to your national situation - and can convince you of it better than I ever could.

That's where I need your help, man. Take my country for example. For us, the right thing to do would be to request to replace the current government with a better one, where we would have a real say in the country's affairs. Unfortunately, they have made it exceedingly hard for this to happen. It would need a very strong collective effort on the part of the people - and lots of will power too - to shake the status quo. We're not even sure what to do if we seized control of the government! Clearly, we're not moving anytime soon. Personally, the best I can do is to act decently and responsibly, trying to make it rub off positively on my local community. Waiting for, and yet dreading, the spark that will ignite our latent anger.

But you have better chances. Throughout your history, you've shown that you can make great acts of courage that won back your freedom and brought you closer to realizing your dreams. I don't know for sure if you feel that your dreams are currently close at hand or far from reach, but I bet it's the latter. So I enjoin you to rise again, you unbeatable underdog, to feel the power of freedom inside you, this freedom that your forefathers have always believed in so deeply. Look around you truthfully, and you will immediately see through the veil of deception that's been spun around you. Trust your instinct, your spirit, your power, and they will guide you again towards the fulfillment of your dreams. And when you do, us, your neighbours around the world, will follow your guiding light on our own way to precious liberty.

I hope that makes sense. Looking forward to hear from you soon.

Your fellow human,
Karim

PS. I am happy to send you this email on Independence Day! May you achieve real independence again soon.