Just A Thought ~ A DIFFERENT MATTER ALTOGETHER

Have you noticed how we criticize our own country, race, institutions and religions, but when people of different races, countries, religions ~ do so, we immediately become defensive or even aggressive? What is happening here? Are we sincere in our criticisms and do we really mean what we say, or not? Are the criticisms of others unjust or exaggerated? Or is it that we take the criticism of others as a criticism of ourselves personally, of our dear Ego?

This is the crux of the matter, isn't it: Ego, the idea of my country, my race, my religion, my this, my that ~ things that are just an extension of our Ego? While we ourselves may criticize our things, if other people criticize them, it's quite another matter. It seems that to look at things objectively requires a degree of enlightenment that most of us poor humans do not have.