This has been a very muted Fourth of July celebration.
Stopped in our regular routine by the coronavirus outbreak, shaken by the death of George Floyd, stirred by the hatred and division we are displaying as a nation, we deep down start realizing that the “American Promise” has been derailed.
Mitt Romney said: “The promise of America has always been that if you worked hard, had the right values, took some risks, that there was an opportunity to build a better life for your family and for your next generation.”
If we want to get back on track on being the promised land, we can’t simply wait for a coronavirus vaccine and go back to our daily lives. It’s time to fundamentally re-think our values and take action on three levels: Nature, race/immigration and common good.
The environment is the most burning (pun intended) item on the action list. The sooner we realize that sustainability is a way for us to overhaul our infrastructure, replacing it with a modern one that respects and protects nature, the better off the next generation will be. As a bonus, it will produce achievements that would allow us to export technology and know-how which in return is good for our economy.
We need to develop a unified vision of what we want to be as a nation.
America has been built on the sweat and ingenuity of immigrants. That is our legacy. If we can develop an open and positive attitude toward multi-ethnicity and channel the energy that comes with it, it will keep making us strong. It also requires a long-overdue transparent and fair immigration policy. It is perplexing that the seed of how this continent has been discovered and developed is now the very thing that is holding us back.
Common good should include access to clean air and water, adequate shelter, healthy nutrition, affordable health care, great education and efficient internet across the nation, not just in highly populated and affluent areas. It seems quite basic for a firstworld country, but we have yet to master these fundamentals.
At what point do we realize that the tide needs to lift all boats and that it will pay dividends by lowering crime rates, drug abuse and give a chance for more people to become a productive part of our society? A healthy and industrious nation is a wealthy nation.
All of this will not work as long as we are divided. We violently disagree on simple things like wearing a mask to protect others and to avoid a resurgence of COVID-19 cases, like other nations managed to do. We need to develop a unified vision of what we want to be as a nation. Let’s start having a constructive dialogue, learn how to compromise and agree on unified actions today.
