She moves in mysterious ways

Spring has arrived. The sun is out again. It is warm out, and my coats have been hanging at home for a while now. It feels good to be alive.\nBut this week also brings sadness. We are out of the NCAA tournament. Last Sunday was a day of grief! Too early for Indiana, I heard. Such a sad and precocious end.\nBut life keeps going. As it happens quite often, earlier this week I got yet another e-mail from some Brazilian friends that praised the advantages of the United States of America, and trashed Brazil.\nI grew up in an environment where every single person that came to the United States for a visit would come back to Brazil charmed by America's beauty and development, yet disgusted by Brazil's incapacity of offering the same comforts to her citizens -- an inability that has been decreasing through the years, thanks to God and economic development.\nIt is clear today that there is a perceived anti-Americanism around the world -- which, by the way, tends only to grow as the war continues. Many people who don't like America are quick to blame her for whatever misery they live in. Chances are, many will not be completely wrong. Granted, few or none will be completely right, either.\nEither way, I am willing to bet anything on the fact that most of these bitter people will trade places with an average American citizen at any moment, without thinking twice.\nI am not really sure if America truly realizes her good fortune. \nAfter living here for a while, it is easy to conclude that America deserves her wealth. This is a nation of hardworking people. I don't mean to say those in other nations are not hard workers, but it seems to me America's culture is centered on hard work, and the wealth of her citizens is a consequence of their own conquests perceived as a victory.\nAnd this is the point when I start wondering: Why does America need to go around the globe bullying, wrecking and destroying? A look at history shows America's deeds can be fruitful. America's hands can bring goodness with as much ease as it brings destruction.\nMichael Moore, after his polemic speech at the Oscar ceremony, declared in an interview, quite laconically, that he did what he did because he was American. That is all he said: "Because I am American." Maybe others scorned his declaration, annoyed by his petulance. But I give you my word, it made sense to me.\nI refuse to believe all the wrongdoings of America were necessary to obtain or to maintain her wealth. I know this cannot be true. Why America commits these acts is a mystery to me.\nEven the brave sons and daughters of America who are trying to establish freedom in Iraq seem to be confused. In spite of the fact that America declared she doesn't want to annex territories, stars and stripes proudly flew for a glorious moment over an Iraqi fort ... that is, until its picture traveled around the globe -- through the technology that America herself gave the world -- and the flag was removed.\nWhy start the war? Further still, after these last days have seen the unprecedented increase of Iraqis enlisting to defend their land, why continue the war?\nWhile our lives here in Bloomington move on mourning the defeat of our team and celebrating the arrival of spring, America is obsessed with wasting lives, futures, dreams and money to impose a freedom that her victims are clearly refusing to accept. This uncomfortable duality makes me think that I will never understand America's mysterious ways.