Ever since I’ve returned from my semester abroad, I haven’t quite been able to look at the American flag in the same way.
While I used to view the flag with a sense of pride and spirit, now it kind of makes me cringe. It’s like … well, it’s sort of like the second-hand embarrassment you feel when you watch this video.
To both this foolish runner and the United States of America, I want to say, “Look, you’re really good. I mean clearly, you’re ahead of so many others. But you’re not the best. And the reason you aren’t as great as you think you are is because you get distracted with your own celebration. You start celebrating what you’ve done, and it makes you forget that you still have more to do.”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that I’m an American. I feel blessed that I am a citizen of a country that has given me so many opportunities. I am grateful for the freedoms I have and the education I have received. I respect those who have fought to give our citizens freedoms and rights, and think America’s origin story is interesting and incredible. This is definitely a country with heart.
But as much as I feel lucky to be an American, I don’t necessarily know if I’m proud to be an American.
I think that one of the most important things in life is to look at your own reality from new perspectives. Allowing yourself to view matters through the eyes of another human, to understand their side of the story, to recognize the context in which they live, is such a critical part of forming your own morals and opinions. And honestly, it’s an important part of being human.
As I traveled around Europe, I met people from so many different places. And with each person I met, I tried my best to listen to them, and to really hear them. From this, I learned so much.
As I conversed with new people, I made a point to ask them about America. I realized that my view was limited to my own experiences, and I wanted to hear what they had to say. If you’d like to hear some of their thoughts about the USA, you can check out this article.
What I learned is that to others, America is the unfortunate runner in the video above. People in other countries are impressed by America. They realize our strength, they appreciate our freedoms, and they enjoy a lot of the things that we produce. But at the same time, America seems pretty obnoxious to others. They see us as ignorant and conceited. Just like the runner, we start to celebrate in the most obnoxious, arrogant way.
A guy I met from Ireland once asked me, “Why do you guys put your flag everywhere? I mean, we fly our flag on our Independence day, and national holidays, but you guys have your flag everywhere, all the time.”
He’s not wrong. Our flag is everywhere. It’s in front of houses year round. And many people might argue that that’s nationalism. That’s pride. That’s being an American. But it’s not just the front porch flag. We put our flag on swim trunks and beer koozies and socks and blankets and sunglasses and cars and pencils and bikinis and teddy bears. Don’t you see how that could be a little obnoxious? That’s us, celebrating, but celebrating a bit too early.
And while we’re pumping our arms and trying to get the crowd to cheer us on, someone else is passing us. Canada is providing free health care. Australia is preventing mass shootings. Denmark is guaranteeing a full year of paid maternity leave. Heck, Estonia is offering free wifi access to all.
You see, America is pretty great in a lot of ways, but we’re not the best, and we certainly have a long way to go. Between corrupt politics, systemic racism, constant shootings and just so much hate … there’s a lot of work to be done.
But we can do it. We have the ability to be amazing. We have the ability to once again do groundbreaking things, to be a symbol of freedom, and to set an example that we truly can and should be proud of. That is, we have the ability to do this if we focus—if we quit celebrating before we cross the finish line. We need to stop trying to get everyone to cheer us on, and instead set aside our pride, put our head down, focus and race towards everything that we’re capable of.
