The American Way...

I have of late been feeling not myself: moody, irritable, conflicted, and torn in too many directions at once by life, family, societal responsibilities, and national inflictions. I find myself fearing for the future of my nation more and more as the days slip by into the past of minute remembrance.

As an American I am proud live in a country where I am free to express the voice of my soul, but at the same time I often feel ashamed of the way mine government is conducting itself in mine and every other Americans name. At the same time I consider myself a citizen of the world, having lived abroad for many years and tasted the distant and satisfying flavor of other cultures and societies. From the tip of Spain to the Black Sea Coast; from the museums of Paris to the pubs of Portsmouth; from the wharfs of Yokahama to the teeming bazaars of Istanbul; from the fjord’s of Oslo bay to the coral reefs of Puerto Rico; from the whit mountains of Italy to the beautiful city of Vienna; from Korea to Denmark, I have cross crossed the globe experiencing life, but never fully grasping the inter-connected nature of our lives.

But always I was conscience of what it was to be an American, and our reputation in foreign lands, and I treated each person I met as an equal, with the respect and dignity that should be afforded all humans no matter their national origins. And in return, I was treated with respect (with very few exceptions) and equal dignity. I made many friends, and through the years we had kept in touch, but alas, the last of them has drifted away leaving my without a picture of the real world beyond my sphere of influence.

I worry now how Americans are thought of around the world. Are we hated, despised, feared, loathed, distained in distant lands? I wish now that I had not allowed those past relationships to drift away with the sands of time, but alas the past is the past, and I must concentrate on new friendships in new places blooming…am I alone in my thoughts and trepidations, in my fears of my countries slide in the eyes of world opinion? Am I wrong to fear for America’s future if those in power are allowed to remain securely fixed to the reins of power?