Sometimes I catch myself day dreaming about what America was like in the "Good Old Days," back when America was "great." The news is all about how our economy was just starting to crawl out of a hole, and now it's headed back into one. Not to mention the state of our environment. Maybe this is all just a coming of age realization, but I have a few questions.

When did new become the American way? To me, the most beautiful architecture is old and maintained. I'm sure that back in the old day things were built to last, but now they're not. We have cities full of dilapidated structures, cold concrete, and "keep out" signs. We have pick-up trucks made of aluminum. We feel no remorse tearing down a building and burying the rubble in a landfill. And then we wonder why it's becoming harder and harder for everyone to have access to clean drinking water?

There's a big gap in lifestyles, and it doesn't look like that's going to change anytime soon. Rich people are really rich, like Kardashian rich. And there's a lot of poor people, living on food stamps and emergency food supplies. It seems like the system isn't working, and it seems like the system is discouraging people from bettering their lives; a slight raise in income can cause a family to lose their entire grocery budget. Has it always been this way?

We are sitting back and watching our planet turn into a wasteland. We produce products so unnatural they cause pollution upon creation, and then sit underground, not decomposing in landfills for 100's of years. The pollution we have created ruins the natural world around us, and nature's been here a lot longer than we have. Did we grow too fast too quick without thinking about the consequences?

There are a lot of obvious problems in our country that we can see with our eyes, but there's also something great happening in America - we just can't always see it. Our generation is growing up, and taking a new approach to things.

This new generation of emerging citizens has different values than the previous generation. We value happy, right, communication, understanding, and making a difference.

We value looking back on our history, recognizing patterns, and preventing the same societal downfalls earlier generations experienced. We value the happiness that making a difference, human connection, and openness offers. We value people of all different backgrounds, life experiences, and our ability to find things in common.

We see the problems happening in our world, especially the problem that a lot of people don't have the slightest clue that these things are happening. We have more tools than ever, literally at our fingertips, ready to be utilized to bring about the world we want to live in. We just have to make it happen.

No matter what happens in this election, or with our healthcare, or with foreign wars, it's our duty as a human being to do our best to make the world a better place. We love our home. We can make America Great Again.