America is my friend...?
Right, so I was half-jokingly accused by a dear friend of being unpatriotic a couple weeks ago. So, while I was at work, I began thinking about it to pass the time.
I'm embarrassed by a lot of things America is doing right now. I don't agree with a lot of the policies. While there are many countries that are much worse for civil liberties, I can easily count a half-dozen that are better. But that doesn't mean I hate the country.
I have friends that do embarrassing things. I'd try to give examples, but I wouldn't want to single someone out. Things that are socially unacceptable and irksome to me (which you'd expect to be fairly rare, since things I like and things that are acceptable are usually mutually exclusive. But no.) And they stay my friends. Even if I tell them why it drives me up a wall and they keep doing their thing, they're my friends. It's not really respectful of my feelings, but nobody's perfect. Why would my country be?
I have friends that have radically different ethical systems than my own. I'd do X, but never Y; they'd do Y but never X. We look at each other in disgust or shock.... but stay friends. America clinging to theocratic ideas of building laws on moral codes, rather than ethical ones, is a bad habit. It makes me uncomfortable. It is part of a slippery-slope (shame on me for even suggesting!) and it lets a majority impose its views on me. But if I give up on my friends, then I'll never be there to see them overcome.
I don't have the coolest friends, or the smartest friends, or the richest friends. If there's a place where I'd be safer as a transman, my regards to the transmen there. If there's a place where I could be open about more of my life, I'm glad it exists. If I left my friends in search of better ones, I'm not really a friend. And if I became a nomad in search of the safest or most liberal place, I'd never put down roots.
So, I'll stick around, and I'll cheer for my country. Not because it's the greatest, but because maybe if I believe in it, it'll be a little bit better.
I'm embarrassed by a lot of things America is doing right now. I don't agree with a lot of the policies. While there are many countries that are much worse for civil liberties, I can easily count a half-dozen that are better. But that doesn't mean I hate the country.
I have friends that do embarrassing things. I'd try to give examples, but I wouldn't want to single someone out. Things that are socially unacceptable and irksome to me (which you'd expect to be fairly rare, since things I like and things that are acceptable are usually mutually exclusive. But no.) And they stay my friends. Even if I tell them why it drives me up a wall and they keep doing their thing, they're my friends. It's not really respectful of my feelings, but nobody's perfect. Why would my country be?
I have friends that have radically different ethical systems than my own. I'd do X, but never Y; they'd do Y but never X. We look at each other in disgust or shock.... but stay friends. America clinging to theocratic ideas of building laws on moral codes, rather than ethical ones, is a bad habit. It makes me uncomfortable. It is part of a slippery-slope (shame on me for even suggesting!) and it lets a majority impose its views on me. But if I give up on my friends, then I'll never be there to see them overcome.
I don't have the coolest friends, or the smartest friends, or the richest friends. If there's a place where I'd be safer as a transman, my regards to the transmen there. If there's a place where I could be open about more of my life, I'm glad it exists. If I left my friends in search of better ones, I'm not really a friend. And if I became a nomad in search of the safest or most liberal place, I'd never put down roots.
So, I'll stick around, and I'll cheer for my country. Not because it's the greatest, but because maybe if I believe in it, it'll be a little bit better.