Thanks for Everything, America. What Do I Owe Ya?
Guaranteed at least 20% of your friends dropped an Insta or Snap today with some patriotic scene and thanking the troops for keeping our freedoms safe. And Hell Yes, they deserve our thanks. They have voluntarily served each of us by protecting our way of life in ways we normally take entirely for granted. Military service hasn’t been mandatory since the Vietnam War. For those of us who haven’t and likely never will work for the military, what do we owe our nation?
I think we owe it to our country to be thoughtful about what we say as individuals and to defend without reservation others’ right to speak their thoughts. Even when we disagree. Even when we’re disgusted. Freedom of speech will never literally be erased from our laws, but people are slowly and accidentally eroding that right every day with the vitriolic backlash that descends on people who say something unpopular. When people fear that backlash too much to speak their minds, we’ve gone too far. The right to express unpopular and potentially dangerous ideas has given us the American Revolution, abolition of slavery, the Civil Rights movement, and some of the most thought provoking and timeless art and literature in history. Don’t contribute to suppressing people’s ideas, even if you hate them.
I think we owe it to our country to be good ambassadors. When we visit other countries, people observe our conduct and factor it into their opinion of all Americans. When people from other countries visit America, we should be kind, welcoming, and gracious hosts. Despite what those ISIL turds and the other #haterz rail against, the truth is many immigrants and visitors to the United States are still awestruck by what an incredible country this is. We get caught up in the criticism and hand-wringing and forget sometimes that America is freaking awesome. Yes, we have our issues, but travel somewhere we think of as relatively stable like South America (government corruption), Italy (almost no economy), or China (insane pollution) and you’ll see that everywhere has their black marks and America’s doing pretty damn well in the scheme of things. There’s a reason people take absurd risks to immigrate here. When we visit their countries and they visit ours, please give them a reason to keep admiring us.
Lastly, I think we owe it to our country to be healthily selfish. Do no harm, don’t leave things or people worse than you found them, but pursue the life that makes you happy. A nation of fulfilled people making the most of what they have, creating new things, and striving to improve the things they care to improve provides the innovation and community that has propelled our insanely rapid growth and continued prosperity. Keep doing you, “don’t be evil”, and good things will happen for you and for us all.
Happy Independence Day, fellow Americans. Keep America awesome. We’re already there.
