It’s been over 230 years since we were declared seperated from England. It was in that instant, however, I believe something more important was declared. On July 4th, 1776, we decrlared ourselves the United States of America. The United… States… of America. We, the fledgling colonists of our 13 states, were forced to reconcile our differences and band together as friends, as family, and as comrades to fight for the common good. We’ve come a long way since that date.
Ours, like many nations before us, has been a history characterized by discovery, expansions, conquests, wars, and other globe-altering undertakings. We’ve struggled, both from within and throughout, yet we’re one of the youngest and most powerful nations in the world. Why is that? I believe the answer to this question lies within the nexus of ideas our forefathers presented first to one another and then to the rest of the nation. We were to be united.
If you look around today, that same sense is harder to find. Our presidential candidates spend hundreds of thousands of dollars fighting for a chair. What would happen if they worked that hard when they actually got there? Our citizens squabble over petty differences in race, religion, and interests. Our laziness forces us to talk a lot, yet do very little. It enables us to use such creative words as efficiency as a regular excuse.
We idolize people, then burn them down like candles with wicks at both ends. Take Britney Spears for example. The brightest flame burns quickest. TV often acts as an avenue for many of these poisons. We have shows about people cheating on each other and idiots running around naked in shopping carts or cutting a 50 thousand dollar vehicle in half simply because they have the money to pay for it. These shows not only exist; they are popular. We have people being shot in the street because their shirt is the wrong color.
Governmental parties and religious groups speak out against one another, pointing fingers – each one believing they are the correct, proper, or righteous side. Nobody is right if everybody is wrong. Each day we move further and further apart. When I think of that notion, I can’t help but remember a statement which has become a chiseled part of our nation’s history: “United we stand. Divided we fall.”
We fight wars, the purpose for which a very limited percentage of our population truly understands. Hate is often generated for the unfamiliar. Our reputation world-wide is closer to that of a bully than that of a helpful big brother. And why is that? Are we all innately born arrogant assholes because of the name we gave to this soil so many years ago? Racism across the globe is pathetic, but racism within your native country? This is simply the most influential ingredient in a guaranteed recipe for disaster. How can we respect anyone else if we cannot respect ourselves? What this country needs is a refreshed, replenished, fortified, and accurate sense of itself. We will fall, divided, if we do not stand, united.
