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Doesn’t it feel grand to be a citizen of a major world power, one of the privileged? Many of us rely on our national identity as a central pillar of our self-identity. We navigate our life and make our choices based on the perception that we are American, part of the most revered country in the world. We’re the exceptional that deserves the lion’s share of everything. But, in case you haven’t noticed, the days of American global leadership are waning. We’re not the coolest kids anymore.
The only reasons we have a seat at the international table today are our huge military and our gluttonous habit of buying cheap goods from other countries, which, of course, is how we lost our manufacturing jobs.
The story of American greatness was handed down to us by our grandfathers and fathers. It peaked with our victories against fascism in World War II when we successfully took on a leadership role in fighting for global freedom. And the momentum of that leadership continued with our triumphs in space and landing on the moon. What a wondrous day that was!
But that story of American greatness is now fizzling out. As a nation, we’re not taking the lead on anything, except maybe the incarceration rate of our own people—thank you, Prison Industrial Complex! Or our astounding lead in the prescription rate for antidepressant and antianxiety medications of our citizenry—thank you, mamma’s little helper and Big Pharma!
Some of us are hoping the leaders we voted in will bring back our legendary past when most any (white) man could work a single manufacturing job and earn enough to support his family and buy a home. Unfortunately, despite any promises from the morbidly wealthy who are running the show today, those days are gone. It is a new world that requires a new way of thinking and being.
It’s not a surprise that the fervor for isolationism, wall building, and (white) nationalism has become so loud recently, that those promising a return to our past greatness have won elections. Many of us only want to look at the world through our ethnocentric lens of privilege that we inherited from our grandfathers and fathers. Many of us are too fearful to look beyond our national boundaries, race, or pedigree and are in denial of the realities of global interdependence and the exploding cultural diversity within our communities.
But despite our unwillingness to see beyond our limited perceptual filters, the truth of shared human experience is unfolding and will continue to do so. We can no longer take colonialist craps in exotic, third world locales and not expect immediate consequences. The chaotic changing climate, caused by our mindless disregard for the ecosystems of our world, is a clear example of those consequences. We are all deeply connected on this grand and wondrous sphere hurtling through the emptiness, despite the surface differences of culture, race, and ideology that we use to justify separating ourselves.
Regardless of how strong we thought we were, we have learned some tragically hard lessons about our vulnerability in America. It’s become clear that it doesn’t take enormous armies to inflict serious damage to our nation. It can be as simple as a handful of terrorists brainwashed in some fundamentalist belief system with low-tech box cutters, a couple flying lessons, and plane tickets. Or it could be more high-tech, with a few IT whizzes with a different ideological perspective, sitting in front of a bank of screens in some far away basement, waging psychological warfare on us with impunity, corrupting our electoral process, and potentially creating chaos in our financial institutions and infrastructure.
We are far removed from the world of our grandfathers. The rate of global change and technological advancement is something completely new to our species. And the political dangers and ecological calamities that we are facing, and that our children will certainly be waist deep in, are uncharted. Seems we have left the edges of our known maps and require a completely new story to help us navigate and mitigate the impending and shadowy uncertainties.
What could be a starting point towards finding a new American story? I have been pondering an idea from an ancient source that I am finding helpful in this modern age. It comes from Christianity, the book of Matthew, chapter 7, verses 1-5, which is a teaching on the harm of judging others. It specifically questions my condemning focus on the speck in my brother’s eye while ignoring the plank in my own. This scripture suggests that I take a critical look at my own nonsense and attend to it before getting all huffy about what others need to be doing. Instead of angrily looking out at all the “victimizers” messing with my way of life, maybe I need to look in the mirror. What am I adding that is beneficial to the world? Anything? Or am I just demanding my own perceived needs be met?
I feel called to take responsibility for my role as a privileged American male very seriously and become the change we need to move towards a more harmonious humanity, to be a light in our world, as the red print additionally recommends. (I wish more of the Christian political right would stop using that book as merely a lapel pin or psychological billy club and actually read the damn thing, especially the red print, and try practicing the brotherly love it suggests—just saying.)
Let’s make ourselves into our greatest versions, and let’s support each other to do the same! If enough of us do this, it would help move us closer to realizing humanity’s greatness.
Let’s not focus on the specks in each other’s eyes but choose to mindfully become peacemakers, every moment of every day. It can become our personal practice to choose to not judge the other fellow, but rather to become aware of what we are putting out into the world, our own planks.
And if we are just putting out more garbage, we can take a mindful breath and choose to extend peace instead. Maybe it’s not so much about America’s greatness at all, but our own, dedicated to the entirety of life on the racing sphere we all share. Let’s make Earth great!
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