America is still becoming

america is becoming

I am writing this post BEFORE the 2024 U.S. election results. So I don’t know at this moment who won or lost or what chaos might ensue. But in any event, I wanted to share a hopeful thought about my country.

Both sides treated this election as a potential apocalypse. Everything is on the line. The nation will collapse if the wrong party wins. I was astonished by a video where a woman was asked what she would do if her candidate were not elected, and she said, “I would kill myself.” Let’s hope this was an exaggeration. But no matter how the election turned out, half the country is depressed right now and probably believes America is in irreparable decline.

This post is for you.

America is still becoming

I read a historical novel and was reminded of the state of America in the 1920s — just 100 years ago:

Crime gangs ruled America’s largest cities.
Life expectancy in the U.S. was 54 years compared to about 78 today.
Black Americans couldn’t shop, dine, or live in the same places as other Americans. Terror and lynchings against people of color were common in some places.
Most of our urban rivers and streams were open sewers.
By the end of the decade, the Great Depression had started, and 25% of the country was unemployed.

In other words, America was a shit show.

Arguably, the history of the country has been a continuum of shit shows. Roughly 2% of the population lost their lives in the Civil War. We made it through two world wars, the assassination of presidents, the trauma of Vietnam, Covid, and Sept. 11, 2001.

We stood tall, the country moved forward.

The U.S. boasts an innovative and resilient economy that is the world’s envy. We live longer and better than our grandparents did, and our air and water are much cleaner. Our universities and companies are magnets for global talent. We lead the world in space exploration, technological research, and medical breakthroughs. The cultural impact of our media, music, and sports flows through the world. It would take more than a presidential candidate to screw all this up.

All the evidence you need of the hope of America is gathering at the southern border. Suffering people from everywhere risk everything to get here—to work, to raise their children, to make a future. Neither Russia nor China have this problem.

I once hosted a friend from Africa and asked him what the biggest surprise was for him in America. He said, “You shower your lawns with clean drinking water.” That puts things in perspective.

If your candidate lost and the country looks like a shit show, you might be feeling hopeless. I hope you can take some small comfort by zooming out to see the wider view of American history. America is a story that is still unfolding. America is still becoming. We have weathered every crisis and can still be the country of hope and dreams.

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