When I was in elementary school, we recited the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. We said the words along with the teacher enthusiastically. There was never any controversy or protest – it was simply a part of our daily routine, and we loved it, because our teachers taught us to respect our home.
Something changed in middle school. On the first day, during the pledge, my history teacher remained seated. I didn’t think too much about it at first – but then it started to happen every day, and I realized that he was deliberately making a statement, perhaps in opposition to the pledge, or maybe to the flag itself. Over time, I noticed that he wasn’t just questioning the ideals of America by sitting out the pledge, but in the lessons he was teaching. I found hidden suggestions within the curriculum that there was some inherent fault in our country. Students were being encouraged to fundamentally question any notion of the United States as a worthwhile place to call home.
As time passed and I entered high school, my unease grew. I started noticing this sentiment not only cleverly concealed in lectures and slides, but in the language of my fellow students. In day-to-day conversation I heard my peers casually degrade America – not a particular political party or law, but the country itself. I realized that my sense of confidence and pride in this country – an attitude that was an essential component of my childhood as the descendant of immigrants who found refuge here – was not only unpopular, but downright controversial. I listened to prominent citizens refer to our country as a place that was founded on treachery and ill intent. I heard rumors that students who wanted a good score on the AP US
history test better avoid writing essays that were too favorable towards the United States or Western values, because the graders were biased against these perspectives – as if they didn’t expect that anyone could be a proud American after studying our history.
This disconnect between our forefathers’ ideals and the attitudes of too many of our fellow citizens is the biggest reason why our country today falls short of their vision.
How did this happen? Our society has stopped communicating to younger generations how incredibly blessed they are to have been born here, in this beautiful land where anyone can elevate themselves with enough determination and hard work. Children aren’t learning that they have a responsibility to take advantage of all the opportunities they are given access to simply by being American, and this loss of gratitude, of an inherent need in all citizens to prove to themselves and to the world that this land of opportunity isn’t wasted on them, has started America down a dangerous path. Our country’s soldiers fought and sacrificed so that we could be here today, yet we are allowing our children to disregard the incredible gift bequeathed to us by our forefathers, the freedom that is our most valuable inheritance, effectively equipping an entire generation with the weapons needed to destroy our country from within.
Among teenagers, insulting America has become trendy, an acceptable and even popular position. The weaponization of youth is another brick added to the towering school of thought that fosters anti-American sentiment through false claims of imperialism and injustice. If we continue to allow this sentiment to grow stronger, to allow the people perpetrating it to develop new ways of manipulating citizens into hating all that makes this nation outstanding, then we will keep on drifting further away from the country our forefathers imagined we could be.
This is not to say that we should be proud of all the episodes of America’s backstory – our country has not always held true to its founding principles, something we should acknowledge with regret and strive to forever remember as a lesson. A country should not, however, be defined by its worst moments. We have never been nor will we ever be perfect, as our founders acknowledged when they wrote that our Constitution was written with the goal of creating “a more perfect union.” Our system of government is not a shortcut for making America perfect, but rather an extraordinary, unique foundation for making it more perfect, more free, more successful, and more innovative than any other country before or since.
We have come so far since we declared independence from Great Britain in 1776. We have established ourselves globally as a haven of opportunity, a melting pot of ideas, the land of the free and brave. Our country’s current challenges are based not on a lack of excellence, but a lack of understanding. This country is not living up to our forefathers’ vision because we’ve lost sight of the fact that our exceptional system of government is the foundation of our success. There is much to do, and many reasons to be optimistic. But we all must come together to restore our foundational values – and teach our children to appreciate them – so that our descendents might one day live in an America that truly reflects the very best of our forefathers’ vision.