I call the USA the greatest country in the world with a certain amount of skepticism these days. Until recently, I have always had a feeling that while America was great, we were always striving to be better. Better for everyone.
Not just for the rich, or the white, or the Christians, or the straight.
EVERYONE; even if they weren't born here.
You're lucky if you were born here but unless you are a Native American, you have ancestors that were not born here. Maybe they came here fleeing persecution, or famine, or disease or poverty. Maybe they came with hopes and dreams. Maybe they came with nothing but what they could carry in a small case. Regardless of the circumstances, they arrived and made a life here. I am not going to split hairs on whether it was legally or illegally. Honestly, it matters very little unless they were criminals. That is what is awesome about this country; you can come here with very little and with hard work you can live your dreams.
The other day someone I know who claims to be a conservative Christian posted regarding the separation of families at the border. I am not going to go into what was posted but let's just say, they are not as good a Christian as they think they are. But, part of what they posted struck me and I thought of it again when we were marching.
We need to do better taking care of our own. We have people who have lived in this country for years who are homeless, mentally ill, maybe both and we don't take good enough care of them. Healthcare is expensive, terms like mentally ill have a stigma attached. There are people who have physical illnesses that keep them from holding a full time job. Doctors have to pay huge amounts for malpractice insurance and in turn charge huge amounts to provide care. Insurance companies charge huge amounts to help defray medical costs and the cycle goes on and on.
America can do better.
While we marched Saturday, I saw a man sleeping on a bus stop bench in an overcoat; I am going to venture a guess that he was homeless. It was 94 degrees with a heat index of 108. He was probably wearing it so that a belonging of his wasn't stolen while he slept.
I saw the irony in my marching for families at the border and at the same time wondered, who marches for the homeless? Who marches for veterans? Who marches for abused children? Who marches for the environment? Why do we need to march for these things? Why aren't we constantly striving to make things better?
There are so many things that America can do better. Our elected officials are so busy trying to get re-elected, they have NO CLUE what is happening in this country or they don't care. They are so busy blaming the last guy or gal that held the office that they are completely ineffective in serving their constituents.
The gap between the haves and have nots widens daily. The tax breaks from earlier this year were supposed to help fix that. Guess what, big companies are buying up their own stock rather than passing on the savings to their employees by raising salaries. No one should be surprised by this. Trickle down economics didn't work back when Ronald Reagan thought it was a good idea.
America can do better. America needs to do better.
FYI--to the people saying illegals are "stealing your jobs". Most illegals come to this country and do jobs that the people who do the loudest bitching wouldn't stoop to do.
America is a great country...we didn't need a reality star in the white house to make it so...not going to go into what he has done to sabotage its greatness.
But we can be better, stronger, more inclusive, kinder, more diverse....and on and on.
We can do better.
I hope I post a year from now and things are different.
Time will tell.
