Earth's Playground

I sometimes see the Earth as a simplification of a playground. Each child at this playground is one specific country. On this playground there is one child that is bigger and stronger than all the others. This child in the past has protected the smaller children, helped them when they needed it, and for the most part tended to his/her own interest.

Now some of the smaller, more picked on children see this big, powerful child with jealousy. So a few of them get together and decide that they are going to kick this child in a sensitive spot when he/she isn't looking and then maybe they will get some respect. They do this, hurting, and somewhat embarrasing this bigger child. But then the pain wears off and this child gets very angry, seeing that it's trust has been taken advantage of. It discovers which children were involved and begins to just wail on them, one after the other, full of rage and anger.

Now the other children that were on the big kid's side see this and start to get scared. They see an unstoppable force that is very angry and could cause just as much damage to them if the child wanted to. So due to this fear, they start grouping together and criticizing, picking at, and making fun of the bigger child.

This is of course an over-simplification of the world but I think it has merit. The United States is the strongest country in the world and the fact that we are using that strength to protect ourselves, is starting to scare other countries. Therefore a growth in anti-americanism, a shame really.