No matter where you turn, the rhetoric is flying. As is the hyperbole, the flip-flopping, the promises, and the continual reference to America as ‘the greatest nation on earth’. Now before we go any further, let me just establish that this is not an anti-America blog, so before I get the famous, “Well, if you don’t like this country, get the hell out of here” line, let’s all be good and clear that I love this country, and I think it’s a great nation… I just hate that we call it that.
The problem with both sides calling us a great nation is that it is very easy to be complacent when you’re at the top. The top is the place for victors, for resting, relaxing, shopping, eating, getting fat… for being, here it comes… American! At least, that’s how we often perceive it. We’re king of the hill, so we can drop our guard and it’s smooth sailing from here on out.
But as any #1 sports team that has taken this attitude has soon discovered, #’s 2, 3, and all the way down to 157 are all working hard, training, and eager to steal that #1 title from our collective lazy ass. This is not the time for complacency. This is the time to work even harder.
But we don’t see it that way, myself included. Deep down, we know we are the best and that we will always be so. Our preachers, teachers, and politicians have drilled the idea into our heads… we are the greatest nation on earth, and that will never change. America is a finished, complete, glorious work of art. Let’s all stand back and enjoy her beauty.
What if, instead, we started calling her “a work in progress.”
America: a work in progress.
Rather than relaxing in the things we do right, suddenly the focus is on the things that need to be done. When we’re a work in progress, there are unfinished bits, gaping holes, parts being held on by duct-tape and crossed fingers, as well as many other unsightly areas. There are unemployed, the homeless, and the starving. There is corruption, hatred, and greed.
I can’t be complacent with a work in progress. There are things that I can do, things that I can choose to be responsible for. On a grad student’s income, there are still mouths that I can feed, lives that I can touch, and good that is within my power to bring about. This is my country, a great nation, I love it. And it’s a work in progress.
Cooking with sulfur 