Beginning To Search For the Soul Under the Surface

A couple of posts back, Gemwolf had written some interesting and thought-provoking things on the state of America. Glancing at his words once again, I began to think deeply about what he had spoken. Is America truly at the precipice of decline?

After much thinking, this is my answer to him.

I suppose that it is a view very much in the eye of the beholder. However, I tend to think that every country has a moment of its rise and fall. The United States is in the midst of a nadir of influence. It is fraying at the edges and even coming apart at the seams. But, I tend to agree with the view of others that we have returned back to the Vietnam era. America had sent its young off to die. It isn't the rich and the privileged who is fighting in the front lines; it is poor and the middle class who feels they must serve their country in this matter. Some, unfortunately, have returned in body bags with a lot of fan fare and little explaination. That expository notion regarding the reasons of the war had been hashed over by a committee. But still the President of the United States pooh-poohed the findings and decided to go off on his own in the next two weeks to come up with his "own recommendations".

But that does nothing to decrease the decline of the country or eliminate the suffering caused by occupation. It still goes on. And our young people continue to get injured or killed. When they get sent home, the public is not supposed to see them except for carefully constructed news reports to minimalize the horror that this conflict has brought to the world.

All of these things contribute to the decline. We have turned into a nation of denial being led by the "Denier in Chief". We are constantly led by the media and entertainment to not really believe what we are seeing and hearing. The only thing we must repeat are patriotic words used to promote nationalism above our own misgivings and feelings. And when the truth silently floats to the surface of the mire we call "public information", the loudest of us all practice very well what our leaders taught us: deny, deny, deny.

And while all this flag-waving and nationalist action is taking part, America domestically falls to shambles. We constantly ignore our economic and health situation. We do not notice crime--unless it has to do with being searched in the airport or "rooting out terrorists". We are given free license, due to our nationalism, to insult and openly deride efforts to increase diversity and brotherhood. Instead, the pundits help this action along by telling us it is alright to shout down the opponent instead of engage in thoughtful and much needed discussion. Authority, in the end, has gained superiority because for those who feel that the country is "less moral" and "Godless" have taken over and surrendered their free will to people who don't have their best interests at heart.

Sad at it seems, fear has also caused the rest of us to do the same.

So, the question still stands: is the United States at a decline? Yes. Have we reached rock bottom? We're heading there. Do we have the power to change our situation? Heck yeah. More than we know.

The solution here is to turn a deaf ear to the deniers. They have caused too much damage to the fragile state of things without thinking about the welfare of the rest of us. For five years, we have had to suffer their attitudes and ignorance afforded to sticking their head in the sand and only repeating what the national leaders have told them. It is about time, we embrace the truth and begin to practice it by taking our country back and making it better.

I truly believe that America, in her largesse, has a soul buried under the mire of denial. It takes the courageous, the earnest and the intelligent to find it and to make it shine like a beacon again.