The geriatric stage, into which America has entered now, is a very disturbing phenomenon if it is not dealt with correctly. If America keeps clinging desperately to its bygone youth and innocence and refuses to accept the natural process of aging then it could destroy itself and the world with it.

This is the most probable scenario, for America is obviously fighting the inevitable, its own mortality. Nations, you might say, don’t die. But something in them does: A vision, a way of looking at the world and its position in it. One might say nations metamorphose. However, in this metamorphic stage a nation can become extremely dangerous to itself and others. Nazi Germany after all was nothing more than a period of transition in that nation, and look what price it exacted of itself and others.

So if America refuses to accept the diminution of its power over the world and the dimming of the cultural and economic radiance that has glowed so intensely for so long, it will become a menace to the world. But no titanic struggle to hold on to its fading glory will stop nor slow the aging process. In fact, it might very well accelerate it.

The Americans have to realize that their contribution to human progress will never be forgotten. As every previous civilization, from the Pharaohs to the present, has enriched humanity, so the wealth of the American civilization will be added to it. America has given us the Bill of Rights, high-rise buildings, Hollywood, walking on the moon and more. It may still enjoy economic superiority and military dominance, but these elements don’t constitute a healthy culture.

A culture is the explosion of ideas, the confrontation of theories and philosophies which might lead to contradiction and even conflict. It is a sign of health, not of barbarism, when writers are persecuted for what they write and philosophers cause riots, for this means that in such a culture ideas still matter and thinkers can still change the course of history. It is the death knell of a culture when ideas and thoughts no longer evoke any kind of passion, be it positive or negative, and all that is left for this culture is to cling to the trappings of power like an aging tycoon married to a young woman he knows he can’t seduce or satisfy anymore. All that is left to him is either to cosset her with his wealth or terrify her with his power.

America must realize that its dominance over the world for the past century was not through power alone. If it begins to view its relationship with the world through this narrow prism it will lose everything. America seduced the world with its ideas and ideals. It inspired and dazzled us. However, now the world is scared of America, not from a sense of awe as some might understand it, but from fear of a fully armed nation showing all the signs of dementia and paranoia.

We look at but no longer recognize the America that we loved and admired, and we ask it to look into its soul and rediscover its humanity and its own fragility before traveling down the path of destruction and suffering for Iraq and the entire world. Those who mutilate their soul will pass to their descendants nothing but a heritage of shame.

* * *

(Reem Al-Faisal is a Saudi photographer. She is based in Jeddah.)

Arab News Features 14 March 2003