In at least some respects, we Americans need to get over ourselves. This morning, listening to NPR, I hear three related stories:

Bechtel has been awarded yet another contract to rebuild Iraq. What has been remarkably absent from the news, all along, is any indication that rebuilding contracts are being offered or given to Iraqi firms. Why are no reporters asking about this? Does it seem so unnatural to us that people other than Americans could be capable of rebuilding their own country? Iraq is an ancient center of learning, science, and technology (Herodotus colorfully describes the remarkable feats of the engineering queens, Semiramis and Nitocris, of ancient Babylon). And Iraqi bloggers are educating us that modern Iraq remains full of skilled professionals and technicians (see especially Riverbend's August 28, 2003 post). Surely they understand their country's needs and preferences much better than we do. What an insult to leave them out of the process, if that's what we're doing! We may be missing an important opportunity to make friends in Iraq.

International travelers report that they are offended, as I would be, by the new US program to fingerprint and photograph them on arrival in this country. Many express hopes that their governments will implement programs to fingerprint Americans who travel to their countries. A Mexican woman reports that she has chosen to pay extra to travel to Paris, rather than to stop over in the US: "Let them stay in their gold cage," she exclaims, "the rest of us will travel freely." I have been hospitably welcomed in many countries, and I'm saddened that people coming to my country will not be treated as well. I also suspect that this program is an overreaction to potential risks. We would be safer in the long run by cultivating our alliances with countries willing to support us, and by taking greater care to avoid measures that will be seen as demeaning to their citizens. We will make ourselves much less safe if we garner a reputation as a country that continually overreacts, cries wolf, and insists on going it alone.

Yet again in the news is yet another design decision about the 9/11 memorial in NYC. I've come to feel impatient whenever I hear or see yet another news item about this memorial. Everyone who has suffered a significant personal loss knows that eventually, it's necessary and healthy to let go. Our focus on this project, viewed against the many times we've ignored greater tragedies elsewhere, must be seen by others as yet more evidence that we Americans view American lives as more important than our own.

As a country, we sometimes look too much inward and not enough outward.