I love America, I really do. I served in her military proudly for four years. America allowed me to rise up from homelessness, gave me a foster home, and eventually a college education. I think it’s the best country in the world. I believe a lot of other people think so too, that’s why they send their sons and daughters here to be educated; why they come here to work; why they move their families here to start over. It’s a great nation, but we’re slipping. We could be better. As I live and work and travel around this land, I notice certain things that make me wonder about the country we’re becoming.
First, American’s have become selfish. “What have you done for me?” It’s an attitude I see when people walk into a store and stop right in the middle of the doorway and don’t care that others trying to get into the store can’t get past them. I see it walking down the street as I approach a large group walking the opposite direction and taking up the whole sidewalk and expect me to move into the street to avoid them. I especially see it when I’m driving and someone makes a right turn from the left turn lane (yes, I’ve actually seen this twice!). For the record, this is why people stopped using turn signals: when you do, drivers around you will speed up to block you out of the lane you’re trying to move to.
American’s have become complacent. There was a time when we always wanted to build it bigger, better, faster, or stronger. We wanted to be the best – salesman, actor, insurance agent, car maker, teacher, whatever. Now, “that’ll do” seems to be our mantra. “Good enough for government work” is the standard we live by now. Really, government work? Isn’t this the problem with the DMV? They get paid the same weather they help 2 people a day or 20. What’s the incentive to work smarter, harder, or faster for the government employee? And this is our benchmark? Nobody has pride in their work anymore.
Which leads me to my last point, American’s have become lazy. Yes, lazy. We rely on the quasi-Patriotic slogan “Buy American” rather than make a quality product at a decent price. This ties in both selfish and complacent aspects as workers and especially unions (yes, I said it) aren’t looking out for the consumer or the company, but only concerned with their piece of the pie. American workers don’t want to put in the time and effort to make a decent product, so instead they’ll brow-beat their neighbors who buy quality (Japanese, Taiwanese, German) instead of American. Don’t fault me for driving a Japanese car, fault the American worker for not making a car that can compete.
How can we improve? We have to stop thinking about just ourselves. We need to consider the people in line behind us, the woman waiting for the parking spot we’re leaving, the commuters in traffic around us, the people who will buy and use our products. We need to embrace that pioneering spirit that made America great; that drove the generations before us to build American into the super-power it has become. We need to be civil to each other and allow and respect each others opinions. We can disagree and agree to disagree, and do both politely. We need to take pride in a job well done and a product well built and when we do, the world will buy American.
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