Thursday, August 24, 2017

The greatness of the United States of America

O beautiful for pilgrim feet 
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare of freedom beat 
Across the wilderness! 
America! America! 
God mend thine every flaw, 
Confirm thy soul in self-control, 
Thy liberty in law! 

                                Katherine Lee Bates 


The United States of America is a great nation! “Conceived inliberty and dedicated to the proposition that all [people] are created equal,” America’s greatness lies far beyond economic and military power. The greatness comes from the all-but-impossible American dream. Our nation is great when we strive for our ideals while recognizing that we have NOT realized them, yet.

The United States of America is flawed. Indeed, every human enterprise is flawed. Most of us would like to fix the flaws we see in our country. We do not agree on what are flaws and we differ on solutions. Some would like to deny the existence of flaws, believing that to acknowledge flaws is unpatriotic in some way. Some see flaws and live in despair, especially when we fail to live up to the American dream. Many believe that nothing can be done about the injustice and ungracious arrogance of their fellow Americans. Others see flaws very clearly, believing they have the answers.  I often wonder whether those who know all the answers understand any of the questions. Often those “answers” create to deeper flaws or promote discord. Perhaps the questions are most important.

With Donald Trump as President, these questions beg for answers:
  •     Will we still seek the American Dream, or abandon it?
  •     Will we continue to believe our American ideals, or surrender them to pettiness and self-serving political demagoguery from all sides of the political spectrum?
  •     Regarding our nation’s problems, will we look for blame or will we do the hard work to solve them, by seeking a consensus of as many stake holders as humanly possible possible?
  •     Will we think in terms of winners and losers, or will we look for win-win-win solutions to the challenges we face?
  •     Will we waste time talking about “making America great again,” instead of lifting all Americans to share in the American dream? Isn't America already great?
  •     Will the tired, the poor and the oppressed still find hope in the American dream, when the leaders of today pass the torch of freedom to the next generation?


I hope that we will choose to keep the flame alive for our children and their children and grandchildren.


I invite you to think with me about the challenges before us as a nation and how to build the consensus we need to find solutions. Can we collectively find a vision to be the great nation we are meant become?

Katherine Lee Bates prayer expresses the challenge before us, “America, America, God mend thine every flaw.” As a truly great nation, we do have more that unites us than divides us.