What's Good About America, In Case You Forgot

Just in case you've forgotten, Americans are still incredibly blessed.
Even in the middle of the downbeat news coverage of the day, the wars and rumors of wars, the natural disasters that always come somewhere, the troubles, the politics, the scandals, the desperate needs -- even in the middle of all of it, we have so much to celebrate.
Realize again how amazing our everyday lives are. We use personal computers routinely -- an unthinkable notion 50 years ago. We engage in instantaneous communications with people almost anywhere in the world on the internet or by telephone. We hear the world's finest music whenever and wherever we wish. When faced with serious illnesses or the health crises of childbirth or early infancy, we are usually spared premature death by modern medicine. We own and drive cars; we live comfortably in homes and apartments; we work in any of thousands of professions of our choosing; we have the spare time to enjoy any one of a million pastimes. The mind boggles at it all. We cannot take it all in, so we stop thinking about it and we start to take it for granted.
Why are Americans so richly blessed? The secrets are there for any nation to see and emulate. We are blessed by our democratic form of government that also respects individual liberties, by the rule of law that keeps us reasonably safe from crime and fraud, by our national defense, by our free market economy that is the engine of our material abundance, and, last but not least, by our widely-held religious faith, our trust in a power higher than ourselves. It is no accident that our money says, "In God We Trust."
We live in wealth and freedom that was unimaginable for almost all of human history, even for the wealthiest monarchs. Let us remember this as we live our daily lives and work through our troubles. We are abundantly blessed. Let us rejoice.
Gina Cobb on March 08, 2006 in Current Affairs
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