I wrote this back in February and then forgot all about it. Thought I’d dust off the cobwebs and see if it still applies.

My name is Kawali. I’m from a country you’ve never heard of, because no reporters come here. We have a war, but it’s not big enough to make news, and it’s mostly just soldiers who are lazy and drunk and like to come burn villages and steal from us and then it stops for a while. We have politicians who say they’ll end the war and will do something about the diseases and the lack of water and the long walk to the nearest town, but my sister’s sick now and no doctors come because we can’t afford them. My cousin lives in America and he says it will get better next year because all he hears about is saving the world. But last time I heard they were coming to save us they spent a lot of money on people in the big city and some man came here and asked me a lot of questions about our life here, and then I didn’t hear anything more after that, except our cow died, but I don’t think that had anything to do with it.

My name is Baskul, and I live in Europe, but my parents aren’t originally from here. I want to be a doctor, and I used to think I would go to America, but my brother is gay and said it’s too hard to get in (he got sick when I was little but he’s better now), and now I’m afraid they’ll see my skin and hear my name and think something bad about me too. I like American music and want to see my favorite band too, but for now I just watch them on TV.

My name is Ban Chen. I’m in the 9th grade and have a computer. My father has a computer shop near the center of the city, though I don’t get to see him much because he works long hours and the traffic makes it slow to get home from work. I like America, but he says don’t worry about it, that they all think we’re stealing their jobs. I try to find out more, but our internet only has sites inside the country. I’m learning English, but I’m too shy to speak. My uncle was an engineer in San Francisco, and he says it’s a lot like here but not as polluted and crowded. I think I’m smart enough to go to school there, but all my friends want to go there too, and I don’t think they’ll let us all in. My uncle says the schools here are just as good now, so I can stay here, but I would like to travel.

My name is Sergio. I live “south of the border”, but don’t worry, I’m not coming to your door. My father deals in mobile phone networks and call centers and my mother handles accounts for a shipping company. I’m in my second year of college majoring in business. My sister’s husband is from LA, and he says people in the US think we’re all maquiladoras and sweatshop operators here, which is funny for me, because my mom’s company is European and has these huge modern nicely painted ships coming in and out of harbor. I’ll probably do shipping as well but I want to do logistics for one of the US trucking companies here since they have the most money and nicest equipment. My brother-in-law also says Americans think everything is polluted down here, which is funny to him because 20 years ago LA was worse than my city.

My name is Peter. I’m from East Europe and I like to travel, but my brother paid almost $200 for a visa to the US last year and then got turned back at the airport for “insufficient funds”. We have relatives who moved there 40 years ago, but I guess that’s not enough. Now that we’re in the EU, I don’t know why they think we want to stay there - my aunt says they don’t even have health care, where here in one of the poorer countries of Europe everyone’s covered. I’d like to save up to see New York, Nashville and something out west like Montana, but I’ll probably fly to Egypt or Spain instead since it’s so much cheaper.

My name is Supomo. I’m from south Asia. My family used to be quite wealthy as my father worked with the government, but we lost everything when the tsunami hit. Lots of people gave money and things, but it didn’t rebuild the hotel we had near the beach, and now both my parents work, but not for much money. Some people here said its America’s fault, that they didn’t do enough, but I saw on TV that they had a hurricane too that destroyed a city and it never came back. I’d like to visit America but my father says I’m a dreamer. Still, I try to get good grades and hope some day I can.

My name is Oleg, and I’m from Russia. Americans think they beat us in the Cold War, but they only beat the old worn out guys from World War II. Nowadays kids would rather do computers unless they know someone in the government, then they go into business. Lots of money here, everything’s expensive, you have to pass money under the table to get anything done. People think America invaded Iraq to get the oil, but how come we got all the money? Oil’s over $100 a barrel and Putin’s a billionaire. Still, Bush invites him to Texas and people don’t think of us as drunks so much since Yeltsin is gone. My grandfather thinks it was a mistake to get rid of the Soviet Union, but I don’t really care. I’d rather visit Europe than any of the ‘stans. They make me think of old collective farms, and I’d rather hack computers. My friend taught me how to crack videos so we get movies here before they’re even released in Hollywood.

My name is Azita. I live in a slum. It feels nicer than the slums I see from America because it’s sunny here and we have a nice old walled city with light walls, but our water makes us sick and we don’t have sewage. My grandmother says we used to get along with America but now they think we’re “Evil” and all they talk about are nuclear weapons and Israel. I want to go to school but we don’t have the money for it, so instead I have to help in our store but I don’t earn anything for it. My grandmother was from the first generation where girls could go to school, but that’s stopped for now. I hope my children can go to school. I also hear that America doesn’t like our religion as well. I don’t understand that, because there’s one God for everyone, there or here. My mother says they should read more poetry, that it would calm their souls. We used to have the world’s greatest poet, but sometimes it seems no one has time for poetry anymore.

To all of you: Please remember us. You may think of us as an enemy or a friend or nothing, but you mean more to us than we mean to you. Most of what we know about you is from your movies, but at least you have movies about you. They say America votes its pocket book, but some of us have no pockets. And it feels like who you vote for affects us more than you. Many say it doesn’t matter, American life will go on. Out here, the world’s in turmoil. It does matter. Please think twice.