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The Lamest Generation- 203
Hal Wastes His Wages!
October 2, 2006
If you want a lesson in humility, try being stuck on a cruise around New
York Harbor with a bunch of Europeans the very day the U.S. squad bent over and
took one in the Ryder Cup. As we sailed past the Statue of Liberty, the beacon
of American hope and prosperity, I endured a relentless stone-busting over the
day's result. Yet as I fumbled for some witty retort to proclaim my nation's
dominance it suddenly dawned on me--I've got nothing.
Basketball, hockey, soccer, golf, and the Olympics--nothing. We allegedly cheat
at cycling and we can't even win the baseball World Cup, although with Toronto
out it looks like an American team will at least win the World Series. And as
the scope broadens beyond sports, it's also becoming painfully obvious that
Americans are quickly becoming the punchline in the world's joke.
According to Nationmaster.com, the United States ranks among the Top 10 when it
comes to murder by firearm, but unfortunately we're out of that group on the
list of most educated. That same site lists us as the 7th richest nation per
capita, yet we can't effectively assist our own countrymen in the event of a
natural disaster. And when it comes to the international perception of
contemporary American policies and leadership, you don't need any statistics to
tell you the world is not impressed.
Right now we're involved with two wars and counting. We claim to be fighting
terrorism, meanwhile the rest of the world views them as wars of corporate
colonialism, where our brave soldiers are fighting so we can put a Taco Bell in
Tehran, a Pizza Hut in Palestine, a KFC in Kabul and a T.G.I.Friday's in
Fallujah as American troops make in-roads into "emerging markets." And as we
deploy our armed forces to one country, we export our jobs into another.
Meanwhile at home, people care more about American Idol than they do the
American President. Our citizens write their local papers to passionately
complain about media coverage of local bartending contests, yet governments at
every level are rife with corruption.
On the weekend following the terror attacks of September 2001, like many I felt
the need to switch off the omnipresent news feed of crumbling towers. I turned
the channel to HBO, where I caught the premiere of the miniseries Band of
Brothers. That series chronicled a time when American men and women stepped up
and answered the call when the world faced some of its most direct and
threatening challenges. As I watched that program I began to wonder how my
generation would react to the similar situation now facing us, and five years
later I'm still left wondering.
This is the nation that rose to defeat fascism. After that we defeated
communism, and put a man on the moon while we were at it. But what have we done
lately, and what does my generation intend to do other than rest on the laurels
of our ancestors?
We could sit and ask who to blame for the current nadir of the American
ego--Phil Mickelson, Mike Krzyzewski, Kelly Clarkson, George Bush? Or instead of
pointing fingers like we always do, perhaps we could do something proactive
about it. Speak our minds, do our part and right the ship. For the first time in
awhile this country has to be the one to pull itself up by the bootstraps,
because I'll be damned if history remembers this as the American generation that
dropped the ball, even if we can't sink a putt.
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