India, You Disgust Me

Every time I think of the young woman in New Delhi who was gang-raped and left for dead, I physically shake with rage. The world-wide attention and the large-scale protests do diddly squat in assuaging my horror of the situation.

The violence on the victim, including her friend, is unconscionable. I could never forgive those men. I hope they die slow, excruciatingly painful deaths and that they cause their families eternal shame.

But I have a bigger bone to pick. Sadly, violence is human nature and there will always be despicable stories such as these. What makes me sick is what happened after the violence: a) the fact that the two friends (beaten, naked, sodomized) were not helped for almost an hour after being dumped on the side of the road; b) the fact that human beings walked by and drove by without assisting!

Only an insensitive culture could have propagated that kind of response.  I am not implying that every single person in all of India would have walked away, but I ask why such a prolonged response when time was so critical. What type of culture condemns its women to live a life of shame when they are raped—apparently a growing violence in the country? This is a nation-wide problem, a shame that India prefers to hide instead of working to solve and heal. If I lived in India, I would get the hell out because I wouldn’t have the social class or money to live in a gated community where women are safe.

India is a country with a caste structure where you are condemned or blessed into the life you are born. If you are smart, but poor, then you will be a smart factory worker. In the U.S., if you want to be President or a Supreme Court Justice or an Academy Award-winning actor or a reality TV star, you can do it regardless of your social class. Americans are not bound by their pocket books. And here, you can marry whoever you want. A man asking a woman’s father for her hand in marriage is a formality.

Yes, America has guns. Yes, sometimes they get in the hands of the wrong people. But we come from a culture of citizens that will run toward a gun man when our children are at risk! Besides we are not the only country with guns. Anyone remember what happened in Norway? Don’t get me wrong, I am anti-gun. But for all the backlash the U.S. gets for our lax gun laws, this is an amazing country we live in with laws to protect our citizens, the freedom to take out loans to improve our lot in life, and the high possibility of justice when we are victimized.

My parents come from a poor, third-world country with a history of dictatorship-rule. I’ve seen corruption there and in other foreign countries first-hand. So no, I am not just spitting this shit out based on what I read in the paper and glorifying the U.S. because I am American-born. I am more than willing to criticize, but I also know that I’m overwhelmingly grateful that this is the country I live in.

America, despite your failings which are negligible compared to other countries, I proudly salute you.