Ugly American vs. Good Americans

My son Justin is attending intensive Spanish language classes in Xela, Guatemala. He has been there several weeks now and seems to be enjoying himself. He lives with a family in the city of 200,000 and attends classes five hours a day.
Justin and his group of international friends are helping in their off time as volunteers with various groups in the countryside. Justin wants to assemble rock climbing gear for a local rock gym at a school in Xela that desperately needs better equipment. This last weekend they travelled to Pacutama Dos to help the survivors of the horrendous mud slides that followed last years hurricaines. Some of those villages were declared graveyards. These young folks had carried prescription drugs there and were helping to translate the labels and doses for the locals.

The picture above is of temporary housing the survivors in the region have erected out of USAID tarps.

Wouldn't it be nice if America, as a nation, could be seen as the great bringer of help instead of warfare in many parts of the world? We have always been seen as a generous people and as a nation we have always helped out in times of need. But, all of that seems to be lost now since bush took office. This country responded fairly well to last years earthquakes in Pakistan, but then we bomb that soverign nation without warning in order to get some suspected terrorrists. A whole family was blown to bits along with America's image in that country. As Justin commented today while online with me, "Everytime the U.S. drops a bomb there is less we can do here."