Do you consider the USA ever? I’m sure for a massive amount of my life I never did. Still probably don’t that much. On the “things I take for granted” list, being free to do whatever I damn well please is likely number one. Mother Effing Freedom.
Are you proud to be American? I mean on a non Olympic Tuesday in March. You just got up and made coffee. You’re yelling for your kids to get up, taking a shower and then heading to the office to waste the next 8 hours of your life answering emails and shit. Do you stop and say. “Goddamn. I’m free to do or not to do this.”?
I ask this because obviously it’s the Fourth of July and secondly, because I don’t think about those things too much. We spout out things about “2-0 in world wars,” and “first amendment rights,” but by and large we are a land of spoiled brats.
All of the above snark isn’t brought to you by COVID times. It was there for forever. We have little to no faith in our political system and still we are lucky. It seems like the last time we were unified as a country was when Reagan was president and we could focus our inherent hate and mistrust towards the Soviet Union. Now we aim it at each other.
So what can we do to change that? I’m not naive enough to believe I can change anyone’s current opinions of the world and won’t try, but this weekend as you swill Budweiser and smash hot dogs, I’d ask that you do what I try to always do. Stop. Consider. Be thankful.
Stop for a moment and take a deep breath. Exhale your freedom and do it again. Prepare your mind for step two because it’s a doozy.
Consider. Consider that the way you see the USA may not be the way others see it. That there just might be some reality to the fact that a large portion of our country doesn’t bask in the same filter of red, white and blue as you do. That being black in this country isn’t the same as being white. Consider that maybe there’s a political ground other than left and right. That a word called compromise is possible, but likely not how our current system is set up. Consider that maybe things are broken. Not beyond repair, but broken nonetheless. Consider that a lot of people are serving for you. So that your kids can play tournament baseball and you can get 5 min oil changes. Consider that if you go backwards In time, that you are no less of an immigrant than the people trying to get here, whether for opportunity or fear for their lives. Consider that you or your ancestors were lucky to land here. Period.
Finally after all that considering of those and a million more reasons. Be thankful. This is what’s missing. Americans get so tied up in trying to be right and practice all of their Constitutional rights that they can’t take the time to be thankful for what they have them.
Is this a rant? Maybe. I am thankful but I think we are all capable of so much more than we are achieving as a society. As an American society, but we’d better quit acting let petulant 3 year olds or we aren’t going to get anywhere.
Rant over. Go slam white claw and shoot bottle rockets at each other.
#hugsandhi5s
