My fellow Americans, it gives me no pleasure to acknowledge that the state of our union is cracked and divided, wounded and festering, dysfunctional and chaotic. We have trashed and discarded many of the principles that have made this Nation great – compassion, intellect, fairness and a recognition of individual dignity and worth in favor of the narcissistic pursuit of money and power. We have abandoned the noble goals of pursuing life, liberty and happiness for everyone in favor of securing those bounties exclusively for ourselves. In the process, we have fractured the fabric of our society to such a point that the United States of America is just a name, because America is no longer united. You can “boo” if you like, but remember while doing so that you are booing the man or woman in the mirror.
Albert Schweitzer, the Nobel Prize winning theologian, philosopher, physician and accomplished church organist, famously noted that “the purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.”
Unfortunately, here in America, a land blessed by God with abundant natural resources and a boundless sea of human ingenuity, we’ve corrupted life’s noble purpose of serving our fellow man to one dedicated solely to serving ourselves instead. It’s a sad state to be in, but one of our own making. The poor and outcast are no longer pitied for their suffering; they are despised, scorned, ridiculed and unfairly stamped with a mark of shame that labels them as lazy, ignorant leeches sucking at the public’s teat. Is it any wonder that against such a withering attack on human dignity, broken communities and broken families and broken individuals would sink into the lowest depths of human despair? Jesus would say, “Open your eyes to the suffering that surrounds you,” but for far too many Americans, such words are repugnant and revolting. This is why America fails and we are no longer united.
And then, there are aliens…not the Martians or creatures from a distant galaxy, but the poor, tired, huddled masses, yearning to breathe free, tempest tossed as they seek the sight of our Statue of Liberty’s golden door, those same aliens about which Exodus so eloquently commands, “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” Or what about Leviticus, which millions of Americans are so quick to quote – “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” I mention those passages because you cannot pick up a newspaper without reading that Trump says that immigrants from our southern neighbors are all rapists and criminals, and that Cruz and other politicians are complaining that refugees, millions of which are women and children fleeing the ravages of war and starvation, represent a grave danger to the American way of life and should be turned away without mercy. This is why America fails and we are no longer united.
And what has happened to American intellect and our wealth of human knowledge? Sadly, it has fallen in value to the lowest common denominator known as ignorance. We champion ignorance. We really do. Take the term, “Ivory Tower,” for instance. Did you know that it originated in the Old Testament’s Song of Solomon? It was used to connote noble purity. Today, it is best known as a derogatory term describing individuals pursuing higher education as being foolish and disconnected from the realities of the world in which we live. It’s like mocking anyone who wants to go farther than seventh grade. The ancient Greek philosopher, Diogenes once claimed that, “The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.” “Hogwash,” we reply as a Nation, and often using a harsher sentiment whenever out tax dollars are asked to support the teaching of our neighbor’s children. And then when we do decide to open our wallets, we insist on teaching a sanitized version of American history, a stilted and incomplete analysis of our human bodies, a censored rendering of American literature and culture, and a review of the principles of science and nature that sounds more like an Aesop’s fable than a method of rigorous testing and examination. This is why America fails and we are no longer united.
“What of fairness,” you ask? “It’s gone,” I reply. Fairness is being just, it’s impartial, it’s honorable, tolerable, even pleasing. Fairness is the opposite of discrimination and social exclusion. It is recognizing inequality in all its insidious forms and making a concerted effort to rectify the situation. Unfortunately, all the virtue that lies within the principle that Americans use to call fair play has been cast aside with all the pomp and circumstance of manure on a dung heap. This Nation’s justice system is bogged-down with systematic prejudice, but a majority of Americans are more concerned these days with the right of court clerks and bakery shop owners to discriminate against their customers.
There was a time in America when fairness meant that people who worked hard were entitled to a living wage for the fruits of his or her labor, but tens of millions of Americans…let me repeat that, tens of millions of Americans are working a forty-hour week and aren’t being paid enough to raise their heads above the poverty line. And then when the working poor start clamoring for a raise in the minimum wage, the captains of industry and investment cry foul, along with the politicians they bankroll, and claim they cannot afford to pay the bill. Never mind that the top one percent of Americans controls a staggering forty-three percent of America’s wealth. This is why America fails and we are no longer united.
I wish I could say that America stands as a beacon of truth, but I’ve seen enough television commercials and political ads to know that, paraphrasing the words of Jack Nicholson’s character in ‘A Few Good Men,’ Americans can’t handle the truth. That’s why we keep deluding ourselves with such notions as “reducing taxes on the rich creates jobs,” “poor people are lazy,” “people who go to church are the virtuous ones,” “money in politics doesn’t corrupt,” “intelligent design is good science,” “climate change is not our fault,” “more guns are the answer to violence” and “people who don’t think and act like we do have no value.” Yes, those are the notions of a seventh grade intellect, but hey, at least they’re not living in an ivory tower.
The recognition of individual dignity and human worth used to be considered a virtue, but in America it’s not any more. My beliefs trump your beliefs, or your beliefs trump mine, depending on who holds the reins of power at any given moment. Compromise has become a dirty word, not because we’re incapable of achieving it, but because inherent in the concept is a recognition that other people’s beliefs have value, too. That doesn’t work in today’s America where getting one’s own way is valued more than the collective aspirations of our entire society. This is why America fails and we are no longer united.
The First Amendment to our United States Constitution guarantees every individual the freedom to practice the religion of their choosing, or no religion for that matter, and religious tolerance has strengthened the fabric of our society over the course of our Nation’s two-hundred and forty year history. Sadly, that fabric is rapidly unraveling under pressure from large sects of Christianity in this nation that have no tolerance for or appreciation of the religious beliefs of others. Religion is supposed to be uplifting and inspirational to help us build a better world, and improve the lives of our neighbors in the process, but far too often in this Country religion is wielded like a battering ram destroying the lives and limbs of all who stand in its way. If I sound cynical, it’s because I am. Moral purity was never meant to trump the necessity of being kind to one’s neighbor, but you’d never know it by tuning into Sunday morning radio or the self-identified righteous who foul our public discourse with the stench of their hypocrisy. There’s a reason Christ hung out with the poor and the ostracized, and it had little do with their need to be saved. It turned out that they were the genuine folk, the people who could look their neighbor in the eye, understand his or her predicament, display true compassion, and with little material wealth to share, reach out a helping hand. That is not America’s religion, and that is why America fails and we are no longer united.
Many of you are wondering whether all is lost in America, and my answer is a resounding, “No!” There are millions of people in this Nation who are still guided by the hand of empathy and compassion. Millions more appreciate the intrinsic value of education beyond the number of dollars it adds to one’s wallet. Others understand the need for universal justice, the kind guided by fair play and available to all who seek its protection. There are many people in America dedicated to seeking truth, wherever it is found, and in whatever form it takes, and who are willing to speak that truth, no matter the opposition or consequences. And there are many who, in the deep recesses of their hearts, want the courage to hear the truth, if only we could find a way to empower them. They represent my hope.
I remember the idealism of my youth, and I’ve witnessed how years of human misery, and broken dreams, and the resulting distrust can chip away at the veneer of all that is good and possible in this Nation. I still nurse a candle of hope, however, because in the words of the English poet, Joseph Addison, “Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.”
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