{"id":1500,"date":"2016-03-31T15:50:42","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T22:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cameronburgess.com\/?p=1500"},"modified":"2016-03-31T15:50:42","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T22:50:42","slug":"open-letter-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cameronburgess.com\/open-letter-america\/","title":{"rendered":"An Open Letter to America"},"content":{"rendered":"
Dear America,<\/p>\n
We need to talk. Actually, I need to talk. And I\u2019d like you to show me how great you already<\/em> are by sitting down, resisting the urge to interrupt and listening\u00a0<\/em>– I mean really<\/em> listening. Listen like your life depends on it. Because even if you think it doesn\u2019t, mine does\u200a\u2014\u200aand I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m not alone.<\/p>\n I already know you may not like everything I have to say. And that\u2019s ok. In fact, by the time I\u2019m done you may not even like me. And that\u2019s ok too. Of course, what I\u2019d really<\/em> like is if we could keep being friends\u00a0\u2026 because I love you\u200a\u2014\u200aalways have, always will.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yet as much as I love you\u200a\u2014\u200aas much as I\u2019m committed to patience and compassion and forgiveness, as much as I\u2019m always going to be willing to give you another chance, I can also no longer sit and silently suffer at your hands, whether you ever intended to hurt me or not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n <\/p>\n There was a time, not so long ago in fact, when you were the envy of the world. You were relentlessly upbeat and charismatic and sexy and, well, hopeful<\/em>. You were tolerant, and generous, and open. And unabashedly brilliant! You modernized and systematized public education, institutionalised human sovereignty and celebrated and protected the individual. You made music that made me feel<\/em>\u200a\u2014\u200ajazz, blues and rock and roll. You gave me automobiles and aeroplanes and submarines\u00a0\u2026 And the Hubble Telescope so that I could see the universe, and rockets and satellites and spacestations so that I could explore it! You united humanity with the telephone, and television and the internet.<\/p>\n America!<\/em> I once breathed. Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.<\/em> And you were.<\/p>\n So I brought you my tired, my poor, my \u2018huddled masses yearning to breathe free\u2019, because I knew that with you, if nowhere else, my dreams might come true. I knew that no matter what cruelty had afflicted me, my family would be safe here, my children would have a future, and so I came. Because, for so long, you were a beacon, illuminating the possibility of a better world. Not just for me, but for everyone.<\/p>\n But somewhere between then and now, you changed. You became mean. You became a bully. You became a narcissistic sociopath more interested in taking than in giving, more interested in talking, than in listening, more interested in controlling than empowering.<\/p>\n You lost your way\u200a\u2014\u200aand, inevitably, you lost my respect along with it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n