Keeping up with America

Flying high at the Bridgewater Municipal Complex

By any measure, our nation is one of the world’s most advanced and diverse countries, especially when taking into account the size of our population – 321 million – and the vastness of our geography.

We have become a paradoxical wonder of modern civilization. Nonetheless, times are troubling:  Tens of millions of us find ourselves in the midst of a fragile tension and a nascent social fragmentation that is straining the threads of the American fabric.

There is political gridlock and a cultural upheaval not seen in decades, one that is punctuated with seemingly unremitting chaos and violence in our inner cities with no apparent, workable solution in sight.

Unrealistically, local police forces are expected to establish order, maintain the peace and establish good community relations where endless teams of social scientists, advisors, and elected officials have failed.

Just as troubling, one can hardly read a print or electronic newspaper, or even turn on the TV without being fed an incessant flow of brain-numbing news about another attack on the American homeland inspired by a warped Jihadist ideology.

A lot has gone badly, and some of us seem to have forgotten or ignored the compellingly positive attributes of the ongoing American experiment with democracy that others beyond our borders clearly understand.

Despite the woes of election year divisiveness and the deep social and economic polarity simmering across this land, immigrants from south of our border and refugees from all parts of the war-torn Middle East continue to storm USA borders, seeking solace and freedom.

They yearn to gain American citizenship, to stand up proudly at their induction ceremonies and to take an oath pledging allegiance to their newly-found nation before the U. S. flag which represents those values.

How quaint this must seem to certain American athletes who continue to mar public pre-game ceremonies by disparaging the Stars and Stripes.

As for me, a first generation American, I will never remain seated or “take a knee” when the colors are flying and the national anthem is being played.