Perhaps it is right, or even necessary to forget accidents...

"Perhaps it is right or even necessary to forget accidents, and wars are surely accidents to which our species seems prone. If we could learn from our accidents it might be well to keep the memories alive, but we do not learn." - John Steinbeck

It seems that my US History II class has had a reversed affect on me. I believed, before taking this course, that by actually learning about America's past that I would somehow gain a sense of pride. I did not. In fact, all this class has done is expose things I think I would have been better off not knowing. As naive and immature as that statement appears, I do not think it is wrong to say. I do not understand why America solves its problems with war. I'm sure I'm not the only person who has asked this. Honestly though, I feel that it is what it is. I am tired of the egocentrism. We do not enter wars for the humanity of the world. Yes, we went to WWII and ended the halocaust, GREAT! That might be true and I might be proud of that - had the US allowed the 900 Jews attempting to flee from their inevitable death on the St. Louis. Instead? Instead we refused to let the St. Louis even DOCK. We are so concerned with global security that we drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshma? Yes, we are quite the bunch.