Over the last few years MAGA (Make America Great Again) has become the call letters of a new political movement, one that has attracted millions of fervent followers.
But this movement and its call to return to a nondescript time of American greatness is one that has raised many thorny questions.
Like — what era would we be returning to?
President John Adams counseled against patriotic hubris.
“We may boast that we are one, the chosen people and we may even thank God that we are not like other men, but, after all, it would be but flattery, delusion, the self-deceit of the Pharisee.”
The Swiss doctor who coined the term “nostalgia” saw it as a disease. The thing about nostalgia is it can easily trick us into believing fantasies.
Be that as it may, the truth remains many believe there’s a nefarious conspiracy to deprive them of the American dream.
At the tail end of my drinking I, too, thought I’d been robbed of my dreams and I, too, was looking for someone to blame.
- I thought my troubles stemmed from the actions of others, not myself.
- I was a victim, NOT a perpetrator.
- I thought if only I could roll back the clock I could skip the part where I waged war against myself for twenty years.
Luckily, I had sober friends who weren’t afraid of holding up a mirror to me.
It worked. I saw through my nostalgic fantasies and began a love affair with reality. I heard it’s easier to change yourself than change the world.
“All the mind’s activity is easy if it is not subjected to reality.” ~ Marcel Proust
It was time to make myself great again.
Alexis de Tocqueville, the French diplomat who was the first to study American democracy, had this to say of American greatness:
“America is great because she is good. If America ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
Here’s how one kingdom reclaimed its greatness:
There once was a king who was very proud and arrogant. He asked his adviser, “Is there anyone who is greater than me?”
To the king’s surprise the adviser said, “Oh, yes, there are many.” The king said, “I want to see this with my own eyes.” So the next day they rode off to see a man who lived in the kingdom.
When they got there they saw just a small hut. Inside there was an old man who wore old clothes and didn’t have many possessions.
The king thought, “How can a man who has nothing be greater than me?” The old man invited them to sit down so he could feed them.
He said, “God is so kind. He must have known you were coming. We have so much food today.” With a glitter in his eyes, he said, “Let us meditate in gratitude for what we’ve been given.”
So they sat very calmly for a while and thanked God.
Then the old man said, “Open your eyes and enjoy the meal.” They both opened their eyes and there was only half a banana and a small piece of an old chapati.
The king got angry.
He was used to the finest foods served on the finest jeweled plates. The king could hardly believe what he was doing when he took a bite.
He chewed the bite of the banana, and chewed and chewed. He was chewing this bite of banana for several minutes but it kept becoming an ever more delicious food in his mouth.
The king realized that a miracle was happening. His pride was being humbled.
He prostrated himself before the simple man and said, “Forgive me. I am nothing compared to you. Who am I, anyway?”
The compassionate old man explained something to him, “You are you and that is what you must be. I am me and that is what I must be. However there is something we both can do.”
”What is it?” asked the king.
“We can be good to all people we meet.”
The king went back to his palace a much wiser and better man. He learned seeing goodness in all of us is what makes true greatness.
Like the words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, if each of us looks for the goodness in each other we’ll find the greatness in ourselves.
The greatness you keep is the goodness you give away.
Just a thought…
Pat
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