This past election cycle saw the slogan "make America great again", as though our country wasn't great. I take offense at that. America is great in so many ways, it's almost hard to count all the ways.
First and foremost in my mind is that America is the beacon of hope and opportunity on our planet. When I speak of opportunity, I am not only referring to financial possibilities. I'm also referring to the ability to speak freely, to self actualize, to protest, to become educated, to travel freely, to practice religion as you please or to not practice religion if that is your choice. You, the reader can add your thoughts. Freedom is the key component for hope and opportunity, and freedom is what we have and must preserve in order for America to remain great.
I have been fortunate enough to travel to other counties during my life. I have been to Dublin, Toronto, Tokyo and Taiwan. I have also traveled across our country a few times, by car, giving me the pleasure of being in many cities and towns. From this writers perspective, I found the general standard of living in other countries to be just a few notches below ours. It's hard to explain. It's subjective. Little things like elevators, signage on highways, lavatories (in 1976 I was at a television station in Tokyo, and in the men's room had to squat over a hole in the floor, lol).
America is the world's great financial and industrial engine.
America is a diverse country that has, throughout its history, made room for new comers. It hasn't always been pretty when waves of new people have come from foreign countries, but the final result has always been positive and even today is moving in a positive direction. It may not seem that way, but we humans tend to have a short sited view of time and we are only seeing the tumult around the current wave of new comers.
We, as Americans, often do not recognize the beauty of our country, our government, our Constitution, our society, our culture, each other. My niece lived in China for a couple of years. When she cam home, she had a renewed appreciation for our country. As the old saying goes, "you don't miss your water, 'til your well runs dry".
I could certainly continue to list ways that America is great. This is not to say that growth and improvement cannot continue. We're humans and therefore not perfect. Not being perfect means there is always 'room for improvement'. But we do not need to play the victim, by thinking that we are no longer great and need to be "great again"
Now, yesterday, I was listening to a series on the BBC show "World Update" and an interview about the 25th anniversary of the dissolution of the USSR. The person being interviewed was a Russionn journalist. Dan Damon, the host of the show, asked why Russia had become involved in Syria. The journalist noted two reasons. The first was because Putin wanted to "thumb his nose at the west". but the other reason really caught my attention. The Russian journalist noted that for domestic consumption, Russia became involved in Syria to prove the popular saying currently used in Russia; "Russia is great again". Sound familiar?
This gave me pause to think. I'm not a purveyor of conspiracy theories, but I'm starting to notice a pattern. I'm serious. trump's loans with Russian banks, trump's mutual admiration club with putin. The CIA's determination that Russia manipulated hacked email information with the goal of getting trump elected. rex tillerson, Exxon CEO and Secretary of State nominee, has close ties with putin (word is, they're 'buddies'). And now the same rhetoric that was used by trump is exposed as a popular phrase in Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia. Russia keeps coming up in relation to trump.
Here's the 'deal'. Russians may feel the need to 'prove' that Russia is "great again", but America is great. America does not need to be "great again". We never stopped being great. Anyone who has a different view of our country, no matter what their circumstances, is not viewing the world and our standing in it, clearly.
No comments:
Post a Comment