A Response to The Caterpillar's "American Political Ignorance"

I must agree with The Caterpillar and his piece entitled "American Political Ignorance." Each day, I am confronted by people who still believe that Saddam Hussein was somehow responsible for 9/11, Global Warming is a myth, and the number one problem facing America today is gays wanting the right to marry.

Yet bad as that is, the people who upset me the most are those who simply don't care enough to inform themselves.

When I come across such a politically ambivalent soul, I am beset by a surge of rage--how can anyone purposely avoid information that affects their daily life?

Today, my rage was--at least temporarily--subdued by one of my students. This student--who is not a U.S. citizen and cannot vote, who is still in high school, and who struggles daily with her English--listens to NPR and laments the fact that her English is not yet strong enough to tackle The New York Times Op/Ed section. She apologizes for not being well informed about the nation's political landscape and feels that her "ignorance" is lamentable. In fact, she even apologized for voicing an opinion because she felt that she did not know enough to have the right to offer her point of view. My response? "This is your country, now--you live here. Never apologize for exercising your First Amendment rights."

This sparked a brief lesson on the Bill of Rights, to which the student was admirably receptive. Rather than tuning out, as most American students would, she was engaged and an active participant in the impromptu civics lesson.

If only all Americans could be as interested, engaged, and absorbed as this non-American student is. If only Americans would sit up and realize that this country can be great again--if only Americans would make it great again.