Conjectures of a recovering dilettante: Are we as a people still willing to sacrifice - both individually and as a nation?
While this may seem critical, I feel my criticism is based on a belief that the United States is an evolving experiment in participatory democracy. The greatness of this country has always been its potential. While its history is checkered with good and bad, it has always held the promise of a better tomorrow. It is this hope of a better tomorrow that drives the optimism of the American dream.
It is also the key to American power and its attraction to millions of people all over the world. What is so disconcerting about today is the concept of hope for a better tomorrow is waning in the hearts of many the America people. This is fueled by a political establishment that no longer seems able to lead, but only fuels the pessimism that is beginning to pervade most thinking here.
It is hard to understand why this is happening, but one thing always comes to mind. The spirit of sacrifice which is part of the heart of a great people, no longer seems as strong. Is this temporary, or a symptom of a greater malaise that has become endemic to the culture? Is the ruling political establishment the cause, or are they simply a reflection of the people that elect them?
Regardless of which, both are failing to carry the torch that has been handed to them from the past – a past that kept the American concept of hope alive so the dream could continue.
May that dream never die!
Brother Giovanni
opd 710
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