What it Means to me

I have lived all over the world. I am currently living in Italy. I have come to understand some fundamental beliefs about what being an American and most important living in the US really means to me.

When I was younger I did have a adventurous spirit. I loved travel and seeing new things. I lived in a lot of places in the US, California, Colorado, Illinois, Georgia, Indiana to name a few and I have visited almost every state in the union. Unlike a lot of people I have also traveled and lived overseas, Bosnia, Epypt, Kuwait, Iraq, Italy to name a few. I mention this because I firmly believe you have to stand in the other yard in order to see that the grass is not always greener.

As I mentioned I currently live in Italy and have drawn some very real life experiences here. Some good, some bad, and I won’t bore you with details. However I see the political landscape in the US from a distance and it’s a very scary place and we as a country are traveling down a road where you won’t be able to separate the states from Europe. Now to all those that would say America is broken right now. My first question would be have you ever lived anywhere else? Not visited on vacation, but lived. Rented or bought a home, set up utilities, internet or dealt with other government bureaucracy and procedures? I would guess that most of the comments I would get back would be “ummmmm No”

The US is a remarkable place on earth. “Or use to be”. We had true religious tolerance. My neighbor could pray to what ever god he or she wished and everyone accepted it. Not anymore the ACLU took care of that. Anyone can stand on a street corner and voice his opinion “Peacefully”, without the government coming down on them. Not anymore, I have heard more politicians cry that the people that have gathered at tea-parties are racist, stupid, hate mongers etc…then ever before. We had a media “By the way I should mention” The only media on EARTH that has the true freedoms to be watchdogs of a government. No other country in the world has this. Yet they have chosen a side and are no longer representing the only constituent that they have. “ALL THE PEOPLE of ALL Views” Now they can not be trusted. Our schools are no-longer institutions of learning. They are factories, where the product being built is not smart, hardworking, self confident people, but people who have learned that its ok to be mediocre, that failure is an option and that no-matter what happens you don’t need to strive for excellence our government is there to make sure you get what they have.

As I said I have lived all over and one thing I have always said to myself was there is no place like home. But now I have been catching myself saying, It doesn’t matter if I move back home, it will all be the same soon. And frankly that is a very scary thought.