Happy Birthday, America

I have been told many times how superficial Americans' relationships are - shallow because they are simply social convention.  In my view this is not true.  The Americans mostly live in peace, but the moment an accident or even a disaster occurs, they act.  It needn't be a terrorist attack.  I once drove off the road into the ditch in a blizzard and got stuck in a snowdrift.  It was about twenty degrees below zero and there was such a gale blowing that anyone out in the open would have started to freeze.  Nevertheless, within moments a truck pulled up and the driver ran over to make sure no one in the car was injured and to ask if we needed help.  He gave one of my companions a lift to go and arrange for the car to be towed out.  The next driver to pass by, a few seconds later, tried to pull us out with a chain.  I don't think drivers in our country would behave with such concern and self-sacrifice.

That's from an essay by Ivan Klima from the Czech Republic, written for a collection that Granta magazine put together in 2002 called 'What We Think of America.'

In my life, I've lived for extended periods of time in England and Poland.  Not only has that allowed me to experience the daily life and culture of those countries, but it's allowed me to see America from a different perspective.

Somewhere G. K. Chesterton tells a story of an English boy who lived in the chalk hills where his ancestors had carved out large figures of giants and horses in the ground.  One day the boy decided to leave his home in order to see the world.  After walking a long distance from his home he turned to look back and for the first time in his life he saw the chalk figures in their entirety.  He had never really seen them before because he lived right on top of them.

Like with an impressionist painting, sometimes you have to get farther away from an object in order to really see it.  That's how it is for me with America.

So, how does America look from a distance?

Arrogant and friendly, materialistic and generous, meddlesome and helpful, ignorant and a light for the world, an enabler of tyrants and the freest place on earth.  I could add, a nation that aborts nearly 1 million persons a year and whose largest grossing industry is pornography but also has the highest rate of church attendance among industrialized countries.

People and nations are and always have been self-contradictory, but for a nation as large and powerful as America, the contradictions are magnified.

Back in 2000 I was working for a temp agency at the processing center for a bank in Fort Worth, TX.  I was one of the few men working there; most of the others were women around the age of 20.  A few days before the 4th of July, the women were decorating the office with red, white and blue bunting and ribbons. One of the young ladies, a blonde-haired and blue-eyed honor student at a nearby junior college, asked in complete innocence, "So, like, is the 4th of July about America or something?" 

The other young women all glanced at each other before politely explaining that yes, it was.  I quickly got up and went to the men's room to splash cold water on my face.  (An honor student? I asked myself.)

I'm fairly certain that that young American woman, who had lived nearly 20 years of her life without a clue about what the 4th of July is, probably would have stopped to try to help someone in obvious distress. 

The question we could ask is, "What difference does it make?  If someone is a kind and good person, does it really matter if they don't understand the significance of a national holiday?"

My answer is, yes.  Yes, it matters very much.  Aside from mere gratitude and appreciation for the free nation Americans live in, there's the matter of responsibility.  Freedom isn't free and it must be protected with great vigilance.  That young woman has the right to vote.  How could she possibly vote intelligently?  It's clear from many of the election results in recent decades that astounding ignorance and confusion are prevalent among the nation's voters.

So, Happy 237th Birthday America.  You're in a bad way right now, but you've been in a bad way before.  Valley Forge, the Civil War, the Great Depression, Jim Crow - those were all dangerous times and by the grace of God you survived each of those.

May God continue to bless and protect this land.