Wednesday 12 September 2001

Pic of the day: Took this picture on the train during my west coast trip. The lady admiring the Norwegian mountains is an American tourist (despite her blonde hair and strong build). Quite a few Americans have a Nordic look, and not without reason.

For my American friends

As the bus drove past our municipality administration center, I saw a half lowered flag hanging from an official building; a sign of mourning after death.

I live in Norway, a country in northern Europe. Even so, my first thought was that it was for the thousands of civilians who were killed in New York City and Washington DC yesterday, half a world away. I still don't know. It could be someone important locally, but none that I know of. And certainly the newspapers have been focused on this tragedy, as if it happened here. We weren't mourning like this when earthquakes shook India, or when the hurricane Mitch decimated several middle American countries. I reflected on why.

One obvious explanation is that many Norwegians - probably most of us - have friends and/or relatives in America. Many Norwegians emigrated in the 19th century especially. And it is still not unusual for young Norwegians to spend a school year over there. Many of us also have American friends we have met over the Internet. (This includes me, though I'm happy to say that most of these are living outside the two cities, or are already accounted for.)

Another point to bear in mind is that the US is the home of the most powerful mass media in the world. We get the news into our homes in a way we never did with Mitch. Or, for that matter, the mass murders in Rwanda. Those were just rumors mostly until it was over ... here, we could follow it from minute to minute together with our American friends.

I spent much of the day on IRC, talking with my (mostly American) friends about the whole thing. One of them was watching the smoke - like a storm cloud - from his window. Nobody in Rwanda was on IRC while the homes burned.

Maybe sometime all of the world will be like this. As computers grow powerful enough to translate between the world's major languages in real time (it will probably be comical at first, but I bet we will get used to it) we may have friends all over the world. It may not be all that far away. Perhaps all the world will sometime be as close as Norway and the US are today. Yeah, and perhaps the lamb and the lion will lie down together ... I guess this may be a bit far off right now.

***

Those of my readers who are American, shall know that all the world does not hate you. The world's democracies - and there are more of them for each year - are on your side, and by your side. I ask you to remember this, that you have friends.

I will tell you how this feels. We feel, in a more general way of course, like someone whose friend has been raped. Our friend was strong and sporty and self assured and had not expected that such a thing could ever happen to her. And then it just happened. What is done, is done. But we worry about how our friend will handle it. Will she lock her door, turn her back to all her friends? Or will she accept our comfort and understand that not all out there are like that rapist?

***

I see America at a crossroads. The choice it makes, will determine the fate of civilization, of humankind itself, for a long time to come. The last time America turned away from the world, it led to the Great Depression and the rise of fascism and nazism as well as the spread of communism. Decades of tragedy, millions of lives lost.

It may not be quite that bad this time. All of Europe is democratic and at peace (or very nearly so), and many third world countries have joined the same side. But I fear that the cost will still be terrible, if the USA closes its borders and its minds.

And not only the rest of the world will suffer, but so will America. Its openness to the world has been one of its great strength, a key to its buzzing creativity and productivity. This may sound strange coming from me, but there is always a price to pay for going alone.

So think about it. We are not you. We cannot feel the same way you feel, and it would be hypocrisy of us to try. But we are your friends, and we feel with you. Please do not only remember your enemies. Remember your friends too.