Independence Day reflections and celebrations
I'm an American citizen, and I'm going to a barbecue where I will eat burgers and hot dogs and apple pie and yes- then I will go see fireworks on the national mall.
But I'm a conscious American, and I know that I'm not celebrating "American" values, but rather "human values" and the ideas that America represents. There are good ones, even great, and a system that, when it works, is pretty impressive.
We are also a deeply flawed nation, as every single other country is. We created our nation on the backs of natives, and built it with slavery, and now we are in the middle of a crisis where our reputation as a beacon for international rights is all but extinguished.
I'm not knocking this country- merely reflecting on our flaws. And they ARE universal. Show me a country that doesn't have a horrific history! Let's also not reflect that many countries that hold their noses up at us cooperated in some of the worst of our recent abuses. We can point to the way immigrants and gypsies have been treated in Europe, the history of Colonialism that is still being felt in ethnic conflicts and, in extreme cases, even genocide. In the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Africa- human rights reports are still dismal. I work in this field, I'm researching torture, there is no state that does not have blood on its hands, no people who don't bear some blame.
So on this fourth of July, I pledge to look at my country the way that I would a child- with love, amusement, not a little exasperation, and the desire to make the US as GOOD as it can be.
But I'm a conscious American, and I know that I'm not celebrating "American" values, but rather "human values" and the ideas that America represents. There are good ones, even great, and a system that, when it works, is pretty impressive.
We are also a deeply flawed nation, as every single other country is. We created our nation on the backs of natives, and built it with slavery, and now we are in the middle of a crisis where our reputation as a beacon for international rights is all but extinguished.
I'm not knocking this country- merely reflecting on our flaws. And they ARE universal. Show me a country that doesn't have a horrific history! Let's also not reflect that many countries that hold their noses up at us cooperated in some of the worst of our recent abuses. We can point to the way immigrants and gypsies have been treated in Europe, the history of Colonialism that is still being felt in ethnic conflicts and, in extreme cases, even genocide. In the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Africa- human rights reports are still dismal. I work in this field, I'm researching torture, there is no state that does not have blood on its hands, no people who don't bear some blame.
So on this fourth of July, I pledge to look at my country the way that I would a child- with love, amusement, not a little exasperation, and the desire to make the US as GOOD as it can be.