I consider myself cultured. I’ve been around the world. Places like Paris, Tokyo, Scotland (deported from), New Zealand, Disneyland, a half dozen Tim Horton’s in Canada, and that one time I stuck my left foot in North Korea (true story). But one thing I’ve realized just from being lazy and spending my life on the internet is that my perception is REALLY skewed as an American. As I have explored the deepest reaches of the interwebs, I’ve realized how many more users I’m able to interact with around the globe on a daily basis. It’s quite amazing really. Especially when you realize whoever hacked my ETH last year could be living literally anywhere in the world.
I mention this (not the ETH thing, that’s just me whining) because I feel like being American has become globally what “white privilege” is here in the states.
Oh boy, I’m asking for a ton of angry comments right out of the gate.
It is a sense of entitlement. It means we can sit back and not do anything and we’ll be taken care of.
I try to keep myself aware of our “ ‘merica is the greatest EVAR!!!1” mentality, i.e. how we like to brag about being the best without ever actually checking if we are actually the best anymore. Which brings me to my thesis:
AMERICA IS LAZY.
Yup, I said it.
I’m not calling out every single person. There are a lot of hard workers (not me) in this country. But it seems for every hard worker, there are ten others who aren’t and a dozen more who just want to yell at their TV provider’s customer service because the Kardashians got deleted from the DVR (still not me, I swear).
But as a society, we’ve somehow gone from JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country,” to, “Make America great again, as long as I don’t have to do anything!” We want everything handed to us but without having to do anything for it, even if it’s just bending over every April 15th. We (me) can’t stand our president and worry about the lasting damage that he’ll do to this country, but all we do is write un-spellchecked Facebook posts and spam trending hashtags (# stopthehashtags).
America as a whole is lazy. I’m not sure who to blame. I’m not sure that it matters really. Hell, I’m not even sure if we’ll still be alive the next time we vote for president.
Can we survive another 1,108 days until the next election?
All we talk about is how terrible our president is. But we don’t give suggestions on how to fix it, other than hoping someone else will impeach him.
All I know is we need to step up. We need to change our narrative. We need to take ownership of our actions as a whole. We need to stop expecting everything (or you know, ANYTHING) handed to us.
Sure, there needs to be essential services and protections (I’m looking at you, healthcare!). And there needs to be oversight and regulations. But there sometimes needs to be blood, sweat, and tears to fix what’s broken and to truly make America great again (# MAG - damn, almost got me).
I see too many examples of Americans not fighting hard enough for their own livelihood, or worse, allowing their own selfish actions get in the way of doing what’s right. Run up thousands of dollars in credit card debt? No problem, just file bankruptcy! Has your marriage hit a bit of a rough patch? Screw the kids and just get a divorce, there’s plenty of fish in the sea! Is your kid being a bully at school? Don’t bother actually parenting, the system will do it for you!
Okay, extreme examples, I know. Everything is easier said than done. And to be fair, I haven’t done sh!t to try and fix anything either. But I think I’m at my breaking point. I’m tired of hearing about inadequate healthcare practices. I’m tired of hearing about high homeless rates. I’m tired of hearing about discriminatory laws.
So, how do we overcome our societal laziness? My thought will be a familiar one to anyone who has worked for a large organization. The two dreaded words you hate to hear from corporate:
CULTURE SHIFT.
Oh brother…
It is going to take all of us to realize we have a problem. It will take all of us committing to caring about the overall success of our country. Great, now I’m sounding like corporate…
In all seriousness though, It will take all of us to stop being lazy in our role in “democracy.” Or you know, at least the republic for which is stands.
We don’t need to wait until 2020 when we elect a new president. And lets face it, baring ANOTHER miracle or selling of ones soul to the devil, there is no way a second term is happening. We don’t need to wait until the midterms. We need to start now. We need to decide to make our country a priority.
We need to stop being lazy. And for crying out loud, we need to fact check once in a while.
If you live in the US, what is the number one thing you want to see changed? If you live outside of the US, what is your perception of America and what would you like to see from us?
I don't think comparing the U.S. to other countries is as useful as comparing the U.S. to itself a couple of generations ago. While this may be an oversimplification, a certain basic attitude has changed. It used to be that one would be deeply ashamed of accepting a government handout or any sort of charity or welfare really. People would do absolutely anything to avoid that. Today, it doesn't bother people and many actively seek out ways to get "free" stuff and there is generally more of it available now.
That is spot on.
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