December 23, 2006
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On America
Two things happened yesterday that have me thinking about what it means to be an American, and in what direction this country is headed.
The first happened at work. I spent yesterday working in the Reserves office, and towards the end of the day, the only ones left were Rafha and myself. I’ve never really gotten to know her, as she is one of the student workers(though she’s at least 30) in the office. As you can tell by her name, she is also an immigrant – from Israel I believe. I don’t remember how the conversation started, but we ended up talking for awhile about Americans in general and in what direction the country is headed. She had her perspective having grown up in the middle east, and I had my perspective having grown up her in the heartland of America. I’ll always believe the best form of communication is a simple exchange of ideas, and that’s exactly what took place.
The second happened last night. My mother and I went down to my grandparents house in Lancaster and spent the evening visiting with them. Then we watched United 93. It was a movie given to them by a friend recently, but they hadn’t gotten a chance to watch it and somehow the vote went its’ way rather than to Polar Express. Maybe because its’ 60 out and thus, doesn’t feel anywhere close to Christmas. I don’t know. In any case, we watched United 93. Now I had never seen it before, had never seen Flight 93, World Trade Center, any of the movies about 9/11. I understand why they were being made, same as why movies about the Titanic(old & new) were made and why movies about Pearl Harbor(though botched) were made. They are National tragedies that become part of the American Psyche, and people will always seek for reasons why they happened, possibilities as to whether they could have been prevented, and also to ask themselves – Were I to have been there – how would I have conducted myself? Run and hide? Ignore the women & children first rule to save my own skin? Calmly direct the panicky individuals despite the warnings in my head of my own impending death? Suicide? Crazed yelling and screaming? Piss my pants in a corner somewhere? Stand up and tell them, “Not this time.” like those on United 93?
People come to America because it’s the land of the free and the home of the brave. But is it? We claim to have established a system of democracy, but have we? We declare that system to be best, and decide to impose it upon foreign governments – but is it? Ronald Reagan once said that America is the “beacon on a hill”- but is it?
Do you realize that we have only inhabited this chunk of land for about 230 years? Think about that. Think about the thousands of years involved in the history of the middle-east. Think of the fact that China’s had multiple dynasties in its’ history that all endured longer than we’ve been here. Even the country that we were originally a part of – England – is a relative newcomer to the history of the world. 940 years compared to 4,000? You gotta be kidding. Look at Italy with its’ Roman history. Look at Greece with the dawn of civilization. Look at Africa with the birth of mankind and the Egyptian empire. Hell, look at our country at those who were here long before Columbus bumped into the land thinking it was India. He didn’t find his spices, but he did find a culture that had been here for Millennia.
And our history began with that discovery of the so-called ‘New World’. Those natives living near plymouth rock had to have asked themselves, “Well, we wish you would have called first, but sure – come in.” Then fast forward a few years and its’ reminiscent of the first chapter of The Hobbit. “Oh, you brought some friends, and they brought some friends, and you say they’ve called their relatives from where – England?” As unamerican as it may sound, my dear reader, we’re an arrogant people. We had a few area on the east coast of the country and then all of a sudden – wham! – Manifest Destiny baby. So then the natives had to have said, “Manifest Destiny? Is that a realtor of some kind because they seem to be good and gobbling up chunks of land.”
The pattern exists throughout history. We(we being whoever happens to be in power at the time) are right, and they are either with us or against us. There was a time when whole states believed they were right, and other states believed they also were right. A war was fought over it. The North believed there was no right to secede from the Union. Once a member, always a member. Like a gang. The south was not trying to impose its’ views upon the North. The south believed individual states should have rights, the north believed the federal government overrode states’ rights. A line was drawn there and a war was fought. We lost. We being America. Sure the Union remained whole, and the notion of America remained the same, but we lost in the end.
That rebellious spirit gave birth to our nation. Who are we(this time we being the north) to become the new England and declare that same spirit ‘wrong’ when before it was ‘right’. Taxes, states rights, in the end we(we being America now) became what we had set out to avoid. We began fighting wars based on sound principles, and over time became a nation that fights wars based on principles that change as much as Ohio weather. No taxation without representation! Yes, yes, hear him! States rights! No, no, shoot him! Oil and making the world(i.e. us) safe for democracy(our individual notion of the ‘best’ government’! Yes, yes, no wait, no, no, wait, yes, no, of forget it – I’ll just let the Today Show tell me what to believe. Quick tangent, how the hell is Iraq a civil war? Al quaida sends operatives there to work with the sunnis to attack the United States. The Shiites became collateral damage, decided not to take it anymore, and are fighting back. The kurds are essentially caught in the middle. It’s the U.S. vs. Al Quaida(both using Iraqis as pawns). That ain’t no damn civil war. It’s North vs. South again.
If anything, the Iraq War is a poignant example of that which the founding fathers gave us, and that which we’ve lost over the past 50 years. Freedom of Religion. Make no mistake about it, we’re on a crusade over there. The founding fathers did not set up a new country to eventually become just another religious crusader roaming the earth. And with the “Safe for Democracy” well established, we’re also political crusaders now. Oh no, no longer is it sufficient for you to accept our faith, now you must accept our political system now too! Ignore the bureaucratic nonsense that is the true backbone of our country now(just look at Academia). Accept it, or be forewarned. You’re either with us, or against us.
We are a nation of absolutes. We are creative enough to invent the internet(not you Al Gore), smart enough to master nuclear physics, ingenious enough to harness electricity, brave enough to fight back on an airplane, human enough for hands across America, and passionate enough to create To Kill a Mockingbird. Yet we are also capitalistic enough to regain a long expired copyright on the movie ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ and reap the monetary rewards of a once small, unknown and unseen film becoming a true American Classic simply because it had fallen into the public domain and was played endlessly on television for years during the Christmas season. Yet we are short-sighted enough to declare this year a mild-hurricane season despite the monster that ravaged the phillipines to the tune of thousands dead. What? It only counts if it hits us? Yet we are Narcissistic enough to walk down the sidewalk with a cell-phone to our ear enganged in quickly-forgotten nonsense while the homeless man asking for a quarter sits with a McDonalds coffee cup that could be filled with the money saved by hanging up the phone. Yet we are arrogant enough to invent scientists to dispute global warming because it is an inconvenient truth, and turn out television ads claiming the american thing to do is to purchase the very vehicles that cause global warming. What? Our economy depends upon it? Build solar-panel plants and give those same 1,000 Ford workers jobs there. Don’t give me that bull-shit. Yet we are convinced of our rightness.
We are human, and yet we are Americans. You want to restore our name? You want to get us back in our prime? Then change. Now. It’s going to have to be the Millennials. Who is going to get this country on track if not us? The baby-boomers? Their time is fading. They are the elves passing into the west. Gen-X? “The World is Yours” is it not Tony Montana? No, Gen-X is not going to do it. Those of you above 20, look at the up and coming teenagers. It’s all about cell phones, getting participation trophies, and having mommy and daddy pay for them to party for a few years in college before they become just another self-obsessed and self-important middle manager.
No, my fellow Millennials, it’s us. If it isn’t us, I fear our country will become softer and softer, more and more self-obsessed, and burn in the ashes of our arrogance. Everyone experienced 9/11, but it’s to our generation what Pearl Harbor was to our grandparents. There’s is called the greatest generation by Tom Brokow. I tend to agree. But we could be the next one. Not through war(God help us all if the middle east never settles down), but through our minds. Through our choices. One by one, choose. Be American. Be creative. Be revolutionary.
