An article in The New York Times examines the youth of Afghanistan. They have adopted bits of American culture, some of the clothes and music. However, they also appear wedded to the mores and customs of their parents.

One young Afghan woman protested against Western values. She expressed fear that her society would be “corrupted like that of the West.”

These ideas are discouraging to many Americans. Women have been brutalized in that traditional society. We surely want an end to the inferior status of women.

We may learn other lessons, however. The first is that American culture is not always as desired in the rest of the world as we sometimes think, or, indeed, as it used to be in the past. We treasure equality and the freedom to pursue one’s own path. Others in places like Afghanistan see us as condoning drugs, promiscuity, permissiveness, and dysfunctional government.

Although we wish to see changes in Afghanistan, we can be sympathetic also to the views they have of America. We are, perhaps, not the beacon we once were.