Let's Not Throw Out the Baby With the Bathwater

The Christian Science Monitor Magazine’s December 24 issue has an American gratitude list going into 2013.

 

“Despite talk of two Americas and secessionist petitions (hundreds of thousands have signed them for every state in the Union), it is inconceivable that we will have another civil war. Second, the assessment of American decline is not as persuasive as it might appear, depending, as it does, on the ‘good old days’ being as rosy as many people recall [which they weren’t]. [And tho] the US is often said to have achieved ‘hegemony’—having its own way, after WWII, only to have become impotent in recent years this period was rife with setbacks.

 

“The US accounts for roughly a fifth of gross world product, has the world’s only reserve currency, maintains a higher-education system that attracts the most international students, and nurtures and entrepreneurial environment that continues to entice many of the world’s most creative thinkers. [Also] the US is aging much less quickly than countries like Japan and Germany. Brzezinski tells a story of a top Chinese policymaker quipping, ‘please, let America not decline too quickly.’”

 

We have lot’s to do, lots to live up to and lot’s to do it with. We’ve made mistakes and will make more and have to see those mistakes clearly, then we can use our strengths to overcome our weaknesses. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water.