Take a look across the borders

Guest Editorial
Ina M. Wesemann & Marina Menendez Gomez

We are exchange students from Spain and Germany and were ashamed by Mr. Berezow's column Thursday, "Be ungrateful and blame America first: Part I." We wanted to express our point of view as guests in the United States before more offensive statements are published in Part II.

The United States is a wonderful country to live and study in, and we appreciate much the opportunity of being here. So far, Carbondale was nothing but friendly people who made us feel more than welcome, making this year here one of the greatest experiences in our lives. However, when we read Mr. Berezow's article we were shocked about the insulting way in which he expressed his opinions.

It is totally understandable and legitimate to criticize "America-bashing," but is it really necessary to respond with "France-bashing" right away? He criticizes Ms. Velitchkova being a guest in this country and defaming it, but isn't it as inappropriate as a host to bash your guests (like he does with the French)? SIUC is concerned about the possible decline of international students coming here because of the tuition raise, but attitudes like Mr. Berezow's may be a more important reason not to come study here.

His article shows a very narrow perspective. The statement that "fair-minded people know that this country has more to offer than any other country in the world" is highly offensive to people from abroad. From our experience, we know there are people in the Unites States that still think of the rest of the world as developing countries.

That is not true. No doubt the United States is a country full of opportunities and has a high standard of living, but that does not necessarily imply all other countries have not. Denying any other country these standards is simply ignorant. There are highly educated and fair-minded people all over the world who may be have never been to the United States. Many of them live in countries that grant their people all the opportunities they could wish for.

We are proud to come from countries in which democracy, the rule of law and individual freedom are highly respected values, countries that offer us a very good education, a very high standard of living and a rich and diverse culture. We enjoy living and studying in the United States, but we didn't come here because our countries lack opportunities but rather to broaden our view of the world. It might be helpful for Mr. Berezow, too, to take a look across the borders.

Mr. Berezow, with immature insults like "pack your bags and move to France," you are definitely not the person that contributes to the "good guy" image of the United States but rather the person "who creates the United States' bad image abroad" (as in Ms. Velitechkova's title). Think about it!

Ina M. Wesemann
graduate student, speech communication

Marina Menendez Gomez
freshman, undecided

These views do not necessarily reflect those of the Daily Egyptian.

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