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Authors, sign in!I can't count on my two hands the number of times I've heard people say that they learned all they needed to learn by the time they left grade school. I'm not quite sure of the accuracy of that statement, but I will admit to having learned a considerable amount in those days.
One of the lifelong lessons that was introduced in grade school was something that you could call a national point of pride, the puritan spirit. It's the idea that one of the common threads that carried us through the colonial and revolutionary periods was an independence to shape or mold your own destiny through the freedoms afforded to us from many sources. It's a common saying of course, but as children we perhaps all heard that we could be astronauts, or firefighters, or perhaps even the president of the United States.
What happened to that America?
It's still here, I assure you of that. However, we've spent years treating the "puritan spirit" as a liability and whittled the definition of American so that it's become an exclusive club. Well, friends, America is far beyond what the legal standards would say. Not only that, but being an American is not all inclusive to gestures like lapel pins, hand placement during the pledge of allegiance, putting out your flag, or setting off firecrackers on the Fourth of July.
What it is to be an American (or any nationality for that matter) is so much deeper than these outward acts of patriotism, and it runs beyond the bounds of any uniform definition.
So what is America? It varies, of course, but equality of opportunity is my America. To have the mere opportunity to better a situation for those who have had the good fortune to be born inside of the club, and for those who have not, is all I wish for.
For I have never been a wise enough person to tell another that an opportunity I had is not suitable for them, nor will I ever want to be powerful enough to tell them that an opportunity that was all but given to me from birth will rest beyond their grasp.
I yearn for the day when we realize that those wanting to share in our way of life are not our enemies, nor are they our scapegoats.
They are individuals who share common principles such as empathy, sympathy, and adherence to the Golden Rule. Perhaps all of this makes me a blind idealist liberal, but all things considered, that's fine.
So I'll close with one final question. At what point did we stop becoming citizens of the world and start becoming citizens of a geographic area?
This physical and mental wall that is being constructed with the stones of hypocrisy serves only to rob us of valuable social and cultural experiences, and the damage we inflict today will send lasting reverberations throughout the following generations.
Published April 25, 2008 by Matthew Musgrove |
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Equality
Patriotism
Comments (1)
Matthew, after World War II, jobs in America and the American economy were growing leaps and bounds. This is probably the time in history that you are thinking of - the time when we welcomed immigrants and didn't mind shipping jobs overseas - because jobs were growing here so rapidly.
One of the reasons our economy was so stable and strong in the 1950s and early 1960s is because so many countries had been obliterated by the War in the 1940s. Japan, Germany, France, England, China and many of the other countries that are now robust - were weak then. So, the world depended upon the U.S. for the manufacturing of needed goods and the growing of needed foods.
That's all changed because of NAFTA and CAFTA but it mainly began with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Reagan began disassembling workers rights and worker protections in the 1980s, which began the slow and steady decline of American wages and prosperity in the middle class.
Ronald Reagan is also responsible for the beginning of the deregulation of the financial industry which has led us to the sad road we are now on - where the primary thing that the U.S. manufactures is credit and paper transactions - which has led to the tamping down of opportunity for regular working folks in this country. It's created a distinct boundary between the haves and the have nots.
The America you are nostalgic about was the one that was built before Ronald Reagan and has been slowly torn apart piece by piece by Reagan, Bush I, Bush II and 16 years of a far right dominated Congress.
In order for us to create an America that warmly welcomes foreigners, we first need to see to taking care of our own better. We must do better in taking care of Americans in America before we can host the world again.
Posted by Nora Thomason
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April 26, 2008 10:27 AM
Posted on April 26, 2008 10:27