After traveling to twenty countries in the last two years, I can tell you without a doubt that every country has its share of problems. However, it’s America’s gun problem, and India’s garbage problem, that sadden me the most, because I love these two countries the most. What’s even more sad is that just the act of me writing this post will undoubtedly start off a shit storm that will have people unfriending me like a bastard at a family reunion. Still, the comparison of these two problems is real, and the issues must be addressed. Here are three ways that America’s gun problem is like India’s garbage problem.
It’s Tragic
The reason we look the other way
These two issues are horrific, astonishing, obvious, and downright tragic. While politicians and corporate leaders try to glaze over the issues, because the mountain just seems too high to climb, the rest of us argue over which trail to take. Who’s to blame? Why is it a problem? It’s always been this way. We have the rights to our guns. We have the right to toss our garbage into the Ganges River. How dare you take away my rights! Meanwhile, children get plowed down at school like a scene in a video game, and our planet chokes on the garbage of over a billion people.
It Divides Us
I was called at anti nationalist in India for speaking up about the pollution. How dare I, a foreigner, speak poorly about their country. However, the fact is that many of the non-profits in India have been founded by foreigners that want to try to help.
Meanwhile, back on the ranch (America), my social media feed just gets uglier and uglier. Name-calling, projection, bait and switch, and distraction are all arguments being tossed around like a seventh grade debate team. You would think that “grown-ups” could talk about something logically. You would think that we have seen so much unnecessary death that we would at least try to have a civil conversation about the core issues surrounding this problem. Instead, it’s seems it has to be all or nothing because “they are coming to take our guns away.”
Not all guns are alike, and comparing a simple handgun used for target shooting, or a hunting rifle passed down for generations, to a fully automatic military style weapon of mass destruction is like comparing marijuana to heroin. The argument doesn’t hold water. Can we just get real for a minute? Why can’t we find some sort of compromise? Together we stand. Divided we fall.
Yes, that’s me shooting a military semi auto rifle with a military friend of mine many years ago
We Can Change it
The good news is that if enough people confront these problems, eventually something will have to be done. Americans did it with civil rights, we can do it again with this issue. India won it’s freedom because one man, Mahatma Gandhi, refused to look the other way. If enough people speak up, take action, and start picking up garbage instead of throwing it down, they could clean up their country.
Recently an ambassador from Costa Rica visited Delhi and got so sick from the pollution that she immediately flew home. Furthermore, she says she will never go back. What if diplomats refused to come to the USA because of our gun problem? What if the rich and famous from foreign countries refused to come here until we made a change? What if we marched, posted, pleaded, and voted until something was done?
Garbage in a vacant lot in Rishikesh, India
It saddens me greatly to write this post. I would rather be writing about tropical beaches, or adventures in the mountains, but I can no longer stand by and watch the two countries I love most destroy themselves. Until change happens surrounding these issues, I don’t feel “at home” in either country.