Where Has My Country Gone?
- Jul 5
- 4 min read
I know I am not alone in this sentiment, for anyone can hardly recognize the state of this country from its original foundations: founded of respect, integrity, and freedom. This cannot be confused as "progress in a new world;" we are facing a digression. When your fellow citizens lack safety, basic rights or needs, and foster fear of their leaders (guardians of the public interests) and of one another, then that is the antithesis of freedom. Where has this country gone? How could it be probable to progress through time while simultaneously digress in human decency and security? Are we not taught to behold history as a lesson of improvement and as a reflection of whence we came? To use as a tool to guide our actions closer to our hopes of a better tomorrow?
I am Ashamed to be Known as an American
I know I am a part of the overarching problem just as much as I am a part of the solution, for I exist, and it would be negligent to believe my actions have no impact. For better or for worse, every decision and execution has a direct or indirect impact no matter the intention set to guide the action. I only wish, inspire, to make a greater impact for positive change. Just as our actions have consequences, in the grand scheme of this human dominated world, our efforts seem to be drowned out by the 'noise.' For some, this may become discouraging, leading to questioning the point when our efforts are perceived as pointless. But remember, it is not all for naught, but for the hope of it all. To hold onto hope is a rather powerful, rebellious thing, yet to hope alone is not enough to carve mountains or valleys, nor to influence movements for radical change.
I do not see it as unjust to expect better from our political leaders, for I hold them to the same standards as I would hold to myself or for anyone else for that matter: to persistently try to do and be better [than ourselves] and to treat everyone with kindness and respect unless proved otherwise. Measured by such standards, the citizens of this country have been served an exorbitant injustice from such people of [mass] influence for far too long now. I could detail each atrocity our country (and the world at large) has endured, through spoonfuls of unkept promises and deceptions shoveled mercilessly by dirtied hands; however, we do not need the reminder of the presently experienced reality, we are not oblivious to the cruelty pooling across streets and seeping into our soil. We all taste the bitterness of despair and immorality.
We can hardly escape the strings of suffering, many becoming numb despite rising temperatures (literally and metaphorically). Even the Earth can no longer withstand the inhumanity of our kind, as she scorches her own flesh in attempts to snuff us out like a virus no longer tolerated. Again, our actions lead to consequences we all must pay, especially the innocent, who appear to have no 'skin in the game' but have everything to lose. Who will speak for those unable to form the words? Have we already crossed the threshold of no return, and if so, is there still hope for a change of good? Or have we marked our demise in the blood of our past?
A Country of Lost / Dead Dreams
How can we live in a system set against our basic survival, not to mention one deliberately poisoning us and our planet? Once upon a time people used to come to America with a dream, and with the conviction that they would find it here. To simply have a dream moved a great nation numerous times throughout history to achieve the previously deemed 'impossible.' Where has my country gone? I'm not sure if I ever had the privilege to meet her. Did this nation's reputation perish with the inspirational figures who forged her character? Now, we, the [her] children, are being displaced like rats in one form or another: job cuts, unstable economy, housing crisis, unethical deportation and war driven invasion, unecological deforestation and resource depletion. Who is this all for when all such paths lead to the same fate; a future burning red, soaked in blood and consumed by flames bred by greed? We are our own undoing, and the sad thing is most are unaware or are watching helplessly as it all unfolds. How can we, the people, contentedly live in a country who is no longer considering the best interests of the people, the supposed foundation of our democratic [government] nation? How are we placed in a powerless position when we are the founded checks and balances over the powerful to prevent corruption? It is a difficult thing to hold onto hope when the nonsensical improbable has become the default, and the return to the principles which birthed this nation seem nearly impossible.
Where Will the Dreamers Go Now?
I have a dream... I had a dream, but I'm afraid America isn't full of dreamers anymore. Only a few foster hope for a better future, a better world. The day when that last flicker of hope extinguishes, then I will truly know that America, my country, is gone.
So, to you, dear reader, I ask you to have hope. To dream a dream of a new tomorrow for us all. To live for the hope of it all and then, maybe then, our one great nation could become whole again. Perhaps it would become something new entirely, yet the life we breathed into a nation of possibilities will, nonetheless, endure within our heart of hearts. A home, and a dream, is not a place, but rather a feeling we carry with us no matter where we may go.
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