An Indian friend of mine once said that she never understood the whole “overzealous pride for your nation thing,” and I replied that you had to be a born and bred American to understand it. Even that is a bit of a stretch for me, because I only feel it about three days a year. Independence Day, Veterans Day, and Memorial Day. Those are the days when people fly the flag high and the national anthem becomes slightly more bearable than usual. And everyone who isn’t of that somewhat-special heritage stares quizzically around and shakes their head. We live in our own corner of the world, isolated from a mass majority of other countries by a pair of oceans, and we tend to do things our own way. Watching soccer is a waste of an afternoon. Narcissism is not a rare condition, it’s a necessary period of growth (which many never escape). And yes, we’re better than every other person in the world simply because we live between sea and shining sea.
I’ve also been told by many different people and mediums that the rest of the world, 1) Is jealous of, or, 2) Hates America for no reason besides the fact that we apparently have more freedom than the rest of the world. The way they would tell it is that the rest of the world is a bunch of fascist (said by left-wingers) or communist (said by right-wingers) monsters that are foaming at the chance to destroy everything we stand for. Well, I don’t need to tell you this… but 99% of that is complete bullshit. Nations (apparently more common in the Middle East) hate us, that’s true, but that’s because to them we’re a bunch of arrogant imperialists that seem to enjoy intruding on their countries and stay there for years on end. We make our own problems, and fail to take responsibility for them. In the 70s, when the Soviets occupied Afghanistan, we paid militants in money and in arms to take them out. Those militants later became Al-Qaeda. And I will bet you that four-fifths of Americans don’t know that. (That’s also the four-fifths that believe Barack Obama is secretly a Muslim on no account but that of his middle name). Yeah. We have a serious superiority complex. But now let’s leave the bashing and turn to the part that we focus completely on and the rest of the world ignores.
The question is: why are Americans interpreted as arrogant by the rest of the world? Well we are. But, while wrong, that arrogance is not completely unfounded. I could run onto Pennsylvania Avenue and start yelling about how the government is made up of self-serving, lazy, somewhat-rabid pigs and the worst thing that can happen is a misdemeanor for disturbing the peace. I can write what I want on this blog and there will be no repercussions. I can make a song where every other word is an f-bomb and post it on YouTube or hand it out on my street corner. We are a melting pot, simply due to the fact that anyone coming in peace is welcome inside this country. Most if not all major technology companies either began or were based on US soil. We created the Internet, or at least the first three seconds of it. We get our news not because our journalists are more incredible than the rest of the world’s, but because they can go wherever and ask whatever they want. And we can sleep securely, knowing that we have the world’s largest and most incredible military in the background to protect us. That is the stone-cold truth, and if you don’t like it I will tell you in my most arrogant-American demeanor to go shove it where the light doesn’t go. That is what makes this a great country, and one worth fighting for.
Also, there is one last thing I forgot to mention. I left out an “overzealous pride” day simply because it deserves its own paragraph, and frankly it is as far from overzealous as possible. This is the final thing that makes this an amazing nation. That on a day when the greatest national tragedy ever to befall the USA ever occurred, every year it is not mourned but celebrated as a day of national unity and respect for the fallen. If you truly want to understand what is so great about this nation, travel to New York City on September Eleventh.
Several songs to listen to this Memorial Day:
Next September Eleventh, listen to the whole album. Bruce Springsteen. The Rising. You will not get through it without crying.
I could put a thousand of these songs on today, but I’ll leave just this one, simply because it’s the one that always manages to make me cry and smile at the same time. Until tomorrow, God Bless the USA.
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