That’s not a question.
Aside from the glory of Rome, Genghis Kahn, Atlantis, and the Ottoman Empire, America is kind of a big deal. It gave us 1776, the Moon, Elvis and Coca Cola. America gave us the concept and reality of freedom.
So what happened?
If you step back for a moment and look around, observe, take a moment ...take stock, take a knee, take a breath ...pull up! ...you may be able to answer that question and save the world. Because we seem to be on a crash course, and maybe that’s our destiny, all pre-determined, except for your unique input, thoughts and actions. Not the ridiculous 3-D actions and mindless jawing of our superabundant American movie-land superheros or media stars.
They say ‘fate is a hunter’ and that seems to be consummately true. I’m not saying the sky is falling, but ...
From our frame of reference and corner of the world, America’s corner, what’s going on right now is our nutcase president, the ‘leader of the free world’. Donald Trump is seemingly singlehandedly eroding, destroying, everything for which America stands. Granted, it’s a nasty, dangerous world out there but America has always been the beacon of light toward hope for a better future, for everyone. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free ....”
Freedom, integrity, justice, equality ...yeah, yeah, yeah, all that good stuff that grabs you by your television patriotic instinct, that draws a tear to your eye and makes you want to stand at attention and salute the flag, John Wayne, Harrison Ford and Tom Brady. And JFK ...and Martin Luther King, Jr.
So what happened?
Trump, unlike John Wayne, JFK and MLK, is unquestionably a nutjob. Egocentric, misogynistic, narcissistic ...flatulent. But he didn’t start this navigation of America’s destiny toward a prophesized crash course, he just perpetuated and personified it. Gave it a face. Trump is just a personality beyond his own good, unwittingly putting the nail in our collective coffin. He is either an accelerant or an omen of foreboding giving us fair warning of things to come. For a better understanding of where America is in the world and how we got here, read ‘America’s Great Game‘ by Hugh Wilford. https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/books/review/americas-great-game-by-hugh-wilford.html Wilford points up how, through privileged government officials, personalities, nepotism and egos, America disrupted the global course of political events and temporarily won its place at the global political/economic table.
Read ‘Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee‘ for an even better perspective of America’s great game. https://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/native-american-history-zmaz71ndzgoe
America won its freedom from England in 1776 and grew as the richest, most envied, modern-day nation on earth. It was hard, it wasn’t pretty, but here we are leader of the free world. Our motivation was just, our cause noble. But that was then and this is now. Look out for China and Russia. Iran ...the sleeper, South America. They’re all licking their chops and looking for their freedom from under America’s shadow and democratic ideals. We’ve gone from George Washington to Donald Trump to Vladimir Putin ...to MbS (Mohammad bin Salman) of Saudi Arabia.
Oy vey.
Rome fell, Atlantis sunk (sank?), JFK was assassinated, the World Trade Center crumbled to ashes ...big business, oil, corporate power, greed, sex, lies, drugs and video tape prevail. Super Bowl. CNN. A commercial break. And so it goes here in the land of the free. We’re having our cake and eating it too.
But here’s what’s going on today in the not-so-free world.
Hunger, poverty, lack of education, gender inequality, child mortality, sexual abuse, unattended to maternal health, disability, sickness, disease (aids, malaria, etc.), environmental sustainability, ravages of war on children and other innocents ....
There’s a little girl somewhere in Syria, Somalia or Afghanistan, or anywhere there is oppression, war, hunger, or any of the other atrocities mentioned above, who is fighting for her life this very minute from sickness, disease, hunger or a bullet wound, her world closing in on her with little hope for a bright future that so many of us take for granted. There is a child somewhere in Africa, Indonesia, Mexico, South America, even right here in the United States, in harms way while we wait in excited anticipation for the next entertaining headline about Donald “Goldfinger” Trump or wait in line for the next superhero movie or next generation iPhone.
Out of sight out of mind.
These may not be ratings-generating news, but they are so much more important than Donald Trump’s hair-on-fire or your Facebook account.
See the imbalance? And what results from imbalance? Excess.
America today.
We should probably change our ways (yeah, right) ...balance things out ...or things will be changed for us.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
