One look at the constant influx of negative information and pessimistic assertions coming from our media and, more often than not, our own people, and it is enough to make anyone think that the end is truly near.
Between the supposed fall of post-Brexit Britain, the unresolved migrant crisis that grows more urgent and gut-wrenching with each passing day, and the inevitable transfer of American presidential power to a mistrusted and vilified New York elite, 2016 has not been treating the world’s pitiful population very well.
I am not an economist and I am not particularly well versed in the matters of international relations or the statutes surrounding the refugee crisis. (My two cents, if anyone cares: I truly believe that anyone who is forced to leave behind their entire world to seek refuge in the often unwelcoming narcissistic Western world deserves all the love and comfort we have to offer.) But I’ll save these difficult topics for a later article…
For now, let us shift our focus onto the general downfall of the American empire, which has become even more obvious with the brawling presidential election. This is not a particularly new phenomenon – it’s been in the making for centuries, the ending practically predetermined from the very birth of our nation, and this is not the first time this devolution has occurred. The Romans, the Ottomans, the kings and queens of ancient Hindu civilizations, entire dynasties in China – all were once strong and powerful, seemingly infallible, and all came to their demise. Perhaps it is time for America’s swan song.
When I say that the ending was prewritten, I look at the basis on which we became a nation. All men are created equal, our founders wrote, penning the phrase with one hand and grasping chains wrapped around the necks of enslaved Americans with the other. These slaves were considered 3/5 of a human, worth less than livestock. While this form of oppression is now outlawed, it has been replaced with racially based police brutality and discrimination at almost every socioeconomic level.
All men are created equal, they said. Unless you were born with a vagina, in which case you were considered property of your father, brother, husband. We women fought and scraped for every inch of justice and yet the fight continues. And if you are a woman of color then the fight has been much worse, the loss much greater, and your struggles are often ignored entirely in today’s conversation.
All men are created equal – unless you fall in love with someone who is the same gender as you. Unless you decide that your external genitalia does not coincide with the gender you know yourself to be. Unless you praise Allah and follow the teachings of the Quran and not the Bible. Unless you dare to break the status quo, to deviate from the Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, cisgendered, heterosexual gold standard our country holds so dear.
For a country that prizes life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, we have done amazing work persecuting masses of people because they did not fit with our world view.
Despite my cynical outlook, that is not to say that this is truly the end. We have a choice. We stand on a precipice today, with eyes wide open. We see our country for what it truly is – flawed to its very core and so utterly, cruelly, beautifully human. We are an empire, built and populated by sinners.
And yet this is a country that allows me to write such a scathing review, to criticize my government freely and not fear a jail sentence or worse. This is a country of people actively protesting the injustices, fighting with every ounce of their being for change, despite the constant horrors. This is a country of sacrifices – police, first responders and soldiers going to war on different fronts, all to protect American lives. This is a country that revels in brutal honesty, in opening the wounds and letting the lifeblood of America run free in the hope that one day, peace and true justice can be attained. A more perfect nation may seem far out of reach, but some of us can see it, and my God, it is beautiful.