Dear America: From An Average White Guy
Christian is an aging lad living on a couple acres in Northern Kentucky. He is a proud father, a reluctant distance runner, spirited driver, and purveyor of mediocre blog posts. He is best known for his constant search
for the six fingered man, as well as wild and inaccurate statements. Many claim his sarcasm is a coping mechanism used to distract readers from his hatred of writing bios. You can find more of his writings at
ThirdOptionMen.org!
Dear America,
I have long since admired your courage. It takes bravery and resolve to create something new and different. There’s always great resistance to strong morals and high-minded ideals. To struggle and fail as a young nation, on a global stage, with all your faults and flaws on display, and do so in the quest to be better, do better, and live better, is indeed noble. It’s no wonder so many have hated you. They’ve hated your gritty determination to cling to freedom, American Freedom, despite its pitfalls and obvious shortcomings. They rant in jealousy about your excess. They decry your capitalism as evil and tainted, but through it all you’re still trying. You’re still figuring it out. It’s not always pretty. In fact, most times, it’s rather ugly, but I feel you deserve credit for daring to bring into this divisive world a nation of hope built upon the ideas of freedom to all.
Along this path to be a Nation of ideals and values, you’ve lost your way. Perhaps it started when “freedom” didn’t include blacks. Maybe it began when you hunted Mormons for not being an approved form of Christian, or when you slaughtered Native Americans because God promised you a larger country. Maybe it began when you decided women weren’t smart enough to vote, or when homosexuals weren’t allowed to get married. You put Japanese into internment camps just for being Japanese, and Muslims were denied entry to the country just for being Muslim, and yet you still claimed justice for all.
Maybe it’s not your fault, America. Maybe it’s humanity. Maybe we are doomed to be motivated by fear and hatred. Perhaps the ideals of a country can only do so much in the face of enduring selfishness and consuming greed. Once, perhaps in the past, the world looked up to you, America. They saw this attempt at morality and goodness as evidence humanity could change. People all over the world went to sleep dreaming of a better place to live, and it was you, America. They dreamt of a world devoid of persecution based on beliefs, a world of peace and compassion, and a world of community and cooperation.
Sadly, America, you haven’t delivered. You’ve chosen ignorance over relevance.
The plight of dogs in kennels is of greater concern than human beings trafficked for sex. You adopt children from all over the world, as a noble expression of how great you are, but American children languish in a broken foster system. In ignorance you shout that all lives matter, but you live as if only some lives matters. You say our soldiers are heroes, but once they take off the uniform, they are a forgotten drain on our economy. You ask the community to, “think of the children,” but you chose career and earnings over family and togetherness. You blame our leaders, but only vote in national elections while the names of your local leaders are unfamiliar. You are a place where religion and politics ought not be discussed in public, but can be discussed, with scathing and hateful rhetoric, on social media. Some say you’re a Christian nation, and yet Christian morals are absent, but Christian hypocrisy is on full display. You speak of freedom, but I’m not sure you understand what freedom means.
America, you are a nation of division. I don’t blame either side. I don’t blame politicians, as they are merely a shadow of your beliefs and a manifestation of what your apathy deserves. I don’t blame the blacks or the Jews, the whites or the Latinos, the men or the women, the Muslims or the Christians, the gays or the trans, or the entitled Millennials and the aging Baby Boomers. The desire to place blame is a human flaw. Only in the mirror can we find fault.
But there’s hope, America, because I believe in the strength of faith and the enduring optimism of those brave enough to fight for what matters. There’s hope, America, because I believe you are greater than a list of historical flaws and missteps. There’s hope, America, because people of all colors and religions still stand together, united, and fight for the common good. There’s hope, America, because the voices of the oppressed have again begun to rise. There’s hope, America, because the once closed eyes of indifference are blossoming into open mouths of dissent. There’s hope, America, because we refuse to surrender our dreams in fear and capitulation. There’s hope, America, because again we rise, again we hope, and again we stand united.
In hope,
Average White Guy