America: In Defense of a Dream
It was more of an experiment than anything; a tampering with various photos of earth and man, the innocuous trialing of film editing. There was no eager intention to make a statement or evoke an emotional release; all that may be felt is merely an unintentional derivative. The initial reaction of mine was to discount any consequent connotation and condemn the piece to the dwellings of feathery patriotic idioms, as something to be contained in the endless messages riddled with ethereal American pride and simplistic if not trite homage to a homeland and an indefinite ideal. Chain letters… chain letters most foul.
I would be quick to dismiss it, but something averts my self-detachment. Something holds me fast to this fanatical ultra-nationalism. The instinctive cynicist and realist in me quickly scoffs and points out the numerous flaws and failures; the oft detached and callous citizenry, the pony show of public appointment, the disregard for collective country past, present, and future. Our claims to unspoiled liberty and equality fracture in the face of veracity’s blows. Yet, I am still seized by an intention deeper than an instantaneous reaction to write off the display of unadorned communal identity. I want to keep dreaming… this dream of ambitious traitors.
We were branded the great governmental experiment, destined to disintegrate in our own dissension. Imperialistic Europe jeered our fledgling nation while in the throes of self-formation only to see us the savior from the waves of fascist tyranny. Our formation had no real outline; we lacked any blueprint for a people’s administration. Though commonplace now, the model of Lincoln’s government of, by and for the populace shook the cages of conventional rule centuries ago. Through the mist of creation a system that defies classification has emerged. We are constitutional, we are democratic, we are a Republic.
The idealistic picture of the United States is not reached in our true existence. It is an achievement that will, most likely, never come to fruition. The outcry of criticism often follows this realization that flawlessness eternally dangles just out of reach. But the naysayers have existed perhaps as long as times itself, the byproduct of the recognition of this fallen world. However, what if America’s greatness derives itself not from her perfection, but from her subtle, yet constant pursuit of this perfection? I do not wish to delineate the everyday actions of patriotism, but simply to take from its definition as love of country and the consistent aspiration for its betterment.
The depictions of the film reflect our nation’s identity, the contents of mountains, rivers, cities and plains, even more so, we as individuals are America. The denigration of our present state may be based in fact and uttered with the intention of positive resolution, but its existence endangers the common nationalism, the adhesive of our common taxonomy. For when negativity leads to division, it erodes our patriotic core and as with the great civilizations of old, we will inexorably decay into oblivion. This is not a fruitless call to obscure reality in a flag-covered tint, but merely a forewarning against an endless doubt and suggestion that our better days are ceaselessly to come. Our nation beseeches us to recall her prominence, to reverie for her eternal continuation, to learn from the past, labor for the present, look to the future… and more than anything, keep dreaming.
“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
-Bill Clinton
I would be quick to dismiss it, but something averts my self-detachment. Something holds me fast to this fanatical ultra-nationalism. The instinctive cynicist and realist in me quickly scoffs and points out the numerous flaws and failures; the oft detached and callous citizenry, the pony show of public appointment, the disregard for collective country past, present, and future. Our claims to unspoiled liberty and equality fracture in the face of veracity’s blows. Yet, I am still seized by an intention deeper than an instantaneous reaction to write off the display of unadorned communal identity. I want to keep dreaming… this dream of ambitious traitors.
We were branded the great governmental experiment, destined to disintegrate in our own dissension. Imperialistic Europe jeered our fledgling nation while in the throes of self-formation only to see us the savior from the waves of fascist tyranny. Our formation had no real outline; we lacked any blueprint for a people’s administration. Though commonplace now, the model of Lincoln’s government of, by and for the populace shook the cages of conventional rule centuries ago. Through the mist of creation a system that defies classification has emerged. We are constitutional, we are democratic, we are a Republic.
The idealistic picture of the United States is not reached in our true existence. It is an achievement that will, most likely, never come to fruition. The outcry of criticism often follows this realization that flawlessness eternally dangles just out of reach. But the naysayers have existed perhaps as long as times itself, the byproduct of the recognition of this fallen world. However, what if America’s greatness derives itself not from her perfection, but from her subtle, yet constant pursuit of this perfection? I do not wish to delineate the everyday actions of patriotism, but simply to take from its definition as love of country and the consistent aspiration for its betterment.
The depictions of the film reflect our nation’s identity, the contents of mountains, rivers, cities and plains, even more so, we as individuals are America. The denigration of our present state may be based in fact and uttered with the intention of positive resolution, but its existence endangers the common nationalism, the adhesive of our common taxonomy. For when negativity leads to division, it erodes our patriotic core and as with the great civilizations of old, we will inexorably decay into oblivion. This is not a fruitless call to obscure reality in a flag-covered tint, but merely a forewarning against an endless doubt and suggestion that our better days are ceaselessly to come. Our nation beseeches us to recall her prominence, to reverie for her eternal continuation, to learn from the past, labor for the present, look to the future… and more than anything, keep dreaming.
“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.”
-Bill Clinton
