Can we change the system?

Tonight, for extra credit for my Forensic Studies class, Sarah and I attended a lecture given by defense attorneys and a man exonerated after 19 years in prison.  He was convicted for a crime he didn't commit, and despite the lack of evidence, he was black, she was white, and the D.A. needed a conviction.  Despite all of this, this man still promotes the equal, just, fair treatment of everyone without sharing any trace of hate for the bigots (and KKK members) who put him behind bars.

Often people ask me why I'm so drawn to Honduras and they seem to wonder if its just for the glam of working internationally.  Maybe that contributes, maybe not.  I think that the majority of those who live in the United States have an idealist view of what happens and how great the States are.  Newsflash: we aren't that great.  Our country of freedom is really a country of racists, discriminating social policy and law that prohibits the majority from being able to achieve the "American Dream" by picking themselves up from their bootstraps and making a life for themselves.  

Argue with me if you'd like, and yes, I know there are countries out there that are worse, but we fail to notice that there are a whole lot of countries out there that are better too.  Why are we are the only first world country that  DOESN'T offer public health care?  Our education system is broken.  Our legal system is corrupt.  We still allow policies that prevent equal rights to all.  

It's not just the American system that is broken, its systems around the world.  You can go to any country, in any corner of the world and find injustices and oppression.  The selfishness of human nature is taking over as we allow our neighbors to suffer so that we can keep our own riches.  Crime, corruption and poverty don't just exist in the third world, but it doesn't have to exist anywhere.  How is this generation going to step up and create positive change both here and around the world?  Or, will we put on our blinders like the carriage horses in New York City, and try to forget that our cushioned lives are not the norm?

"The greater a man's talents, the greater his power to lead astray." Aldous Huxley, Brave New World