The Perspective of Lost Boy of Sudan and Typical Americans on Certain Political Concepts - Term Paper Example

?A Comparison of the Perspective of Lost Boy of Sudan and typical Americans on certain political Concepts The way people perceive things in this world differ depending on various factors. One of the major factors is cultural background. Other factors are environment, age, social orientation, place of origin, sex and many others. As we understand, there is a very big difference between typical Americans and the Lost Boys of Sudan, which make them to perceive things differently. The typical Americans understand that it is the purpose of their government to ensure security. Due to this perception, they direct blames to the government whenever their security is threatened. In most cases, the president, who is the head of government, is required to take responsibility. The Lost Boys of Sudan, being in a foreign country, do not perceive this as the purpose of the government. Back in their country, their government assisted their neighboring communities, the Baqqara, in attacking and destroying their village (Hecht 20). Due to such things that their government back in Sudan used to do, they cannot perceive as the purpose of a government to provide security to its citizens. Back in Sudan, they were ruled by the Sharia Laws, which were not made by government (Hecht 19). These makes the Sudanese not to perceive that it is the purpose of government to make laws and ensure that good policies are put in place to ensure proper governing of its citizens. Americans on the other hand understands this very well. They understand their rights and thus require that the government does not infringe on any of them while making policies and laws (Lasser 70). They perceive that it is the purpose of the government to ensure that the laws it makes are not cruel to a certain group of the community. Several injustices have been done to these Lost Boys of Sudan by the Sudanese government. Their government was encouraging their neighbors to do injustice to them. As a result, these Sudanese do not perceive as the purpose of government to ensure Justice for all. According to Hecht (20) back in their early time in Sudan, their neighboring community took their possessions and their government did nothing about that. Americans through understanding of their legal system and how their judicially works are very vigilant about their rights. They perceive that it is the purpose of the judicial arm of their government to ensure that any injustice done to them is punished. The Lost Boys of Sudan perceive that they do not have power to control their political nature. Back in Sudan, they did not have the power to decide who they wanted to lead them. This was due to the northern dominance and political threats (Hecht 17). The Americans on the other hand perceive as their democratic right to decide who to have as their president thus their perception is that they have control over this matter. The Sudanese also perceive that human nature is full of suffering and problems. As Dengs and Ajak (1) shows us before he got to the refugee camp, he was in a desperate situation and he was feeling as if he was going to die next minute. He also shows that his family members back in Sudan are suffering and thus needs to be liberated. In America, there is little suffering thus, Americans do not perceive human nature from this perspective. They view life as enjoyable thus not having room for suffering. To them only greedy individuals induce human nature with suffering. Both perceive that it is human nature to assist one another in times of trouble. Back in their land in Sudan before the beginning of the civil war, it was their culture to assist. They used to assist their neighboring community with water and pasture (Hecht 20). Americans also are very kind and majorities are willing to contribute through humanitarian organizations in order to assist those who are troubled by war or hunger. They willingly assisted these Sudanese to settle in their country (Bixler 146). There is also a perception among the typical Americans that a person to be in liberty to do whatever he wishes to do as long as it does not break the law and that everyone should be treated equally without discrimination (Laslett 362). Contrary to these, the Sudanese perceive that being given liberty is a privilege. Back in Sudan, they were not allowed to practice their Christian beliefs freely. For them coming to America gave them liberty and they are planning that after getting good education they can go and try to liberate their brothers and sisters back in Sudan (Dengs and Ajak 1). In addition to this, the Lost Boys of Sudan do not feel that every person should be treated equally. To them as long as they are comfortable with life they are contented. Whether people mistreat them in America because of their color is not their worry. The international organizations and interest groups are the ones which have brought the Sudanese this far. As Dengs and Ajak (1) shows, these organizations took them from close to their graves. They treated them, gave them food and shelter and they gave them hope of living. These make these people to perceive interest groups and international organizations to be Godsend. As we are aware, America has had peace for years thus none of the typical Americans require assistance from these organizations. This makes Americans not to perceive this organizations and groups as very important in comparison to the Sudanese boys. Another concept in which their perception differs is education. To the Sudanese as Dengs and Ajak (1) shows getting good education is a privilege. Very few people in their community have had education since the colonial period (Hecht 21). This in some ways has contributed to their fate and they believe after getting educated they will be able to go back and liberate their people. The Americans on the other side, they do not perceive education as necessity for their social well being and prosperity (Scapp 20). Due to this, they give education less value compared to the value these Lost Boys of Sudan give it. In addition to this typical Americans, perceive basic education as their human right, which is very different from the way Sudanese perceive. These Sudanese were victims of war. This makes them to have a very different perception on war compared to Americans whose interaction with war was not as severe as the Sudanese. They perceive war in terms of lost lives, property destroyed, and the people who are captured. Americans on the other side they perceive war only in terms of the resources it uses. Therefore, the differences experienced could be attributed to the fact that they came from different races, had different upbringings and different social orientation. Works Sited Bixler, Mark. The Lost Boys of Sudan: An American Story of the Refugee Experience. Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 2005.Print. Deng, Benson, Deng, Alephonsion and Ajak, Benjamin. They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys from…. New York: PublicAffairsTM, 2006. Print. Hecht, Joan. The Journey of the Lost Boys. Jacksonville: Allswell Press, 2005. Print. Laslett, John H. M. Failure of a Dream?: Essays in the History of American Socialism. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1984. Print. Scapp, Ron. Teaching Values: Critical Perspective on Education, Politics and Culture. New York: Routledge Publishers, 2003. Print. Read More