I kid you not; there are seriously billboard ads and commercials that are playing off the fact that many Americans, jokingly I hope, are planning to move to Canada after this upcoming election. Sure, I know that it is just a funny way to attract business and a tweet worthy hash tag, but I do not think it is what we should be saying about our nation during a time when we so desperately need unity.
I know, I know many of you will ask, “but, how did our nation get to the point where these are our two choices for office” and the answer to that question is simple… us. We voted for months, as a nation, to find the two candidates that would run for the presidency in the general, and due to continual low turnouts and other voter inflicted factors Clinton and Trump were selected in landslides.
However, this article is not about why I believe we should all vote because it is one of the rights that our founders, civil rights leaders, and women’s rights activist fought and died for over the course of those grueling decades when voting wasn’t taken for granted. This article was spawned because of my excitement for seeing pride in the USA once more. For the first time in months, I have been able to turn on the television, read the newspaper, and search through twitter without reading about the demise of a country that was supposedly “once” great and have seen nationwide pride and respect for a country that is very obviously unlike any other.
I am not traditionally one to idolize sporting events, but the Olympic games have once again proven to be much more. I am not saying that the USA needed a distraction from all of the systematic hatred and political rugby that plagues our nation, but American needed a lesson on what it means to cheer each other on because, quite frankly, we never do anymore. I was one stuck in the constant cycle of confliction that the media is spectacular at informing us about, and the Olympics have proven to be a much needed escape from disdain.
If you watch any of the current political mess nine out of ten times we are told about what happens to us when we don’t succeed and how difficult it is to reach the top in the United States, and this, although necessary to discuss, gets incredibly disheartening and discouraging- especially for our youth, who are constantly reminded they are predicted less success than their parents. The Olympics have given us role models from all different social, political, and financial backgrounds that provide us with a clear image of success. I hope that those five and six year olds at home are watching as Michael Phelps dominates all imaginable boundaries winning more medals than any Olympian in modern history, as Simone Biles obliterates the competition and odds to win gold, and as Katie Ledecky swims her way into the record books wearing a smile and red, white, and blue. I hope that those five and six year olds see how much potential our nation has to one day love everyone in it and rediscover the pride that comes with being an American.
