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Anonymous Paper #1

Today’s date is the 11th of January 2021. I apologize in advance as I have not written in a while, nor was I an exceptional writer to begin with. I have always seen writing as a way to express oneself and it’s something I particularly enjoy, but also something I have neglected as of late due to the many distractions that occupy my life. I will be writing this blog express things that I feel are important to me and can be rather difficult to share. Without further ado, here is my first entry.

As I was driving on may way home this morning and enjoying my coffee, I found myself at peace. There are many niceties which we take for granted and I accept that the components I find essential to my drive this morning are not essential but rather privileges I take for granted, but not ones granted to all or even most people. My coffee, music, and the simple act of driving are three such things, things in which I cherish. The accessibility I have to luxuries such as these stem from my fate of residing in a country termed free. That same country has been littered by controversy as of late, but if one wishes to come to terms with the controversy that is the existence of  this country, one must realize it has always been there. 

I live in a country that treated people like property. I live in a country that went out of its way to wipe out its indigenous people and their cultures. I live in a country where racial equality has never existed. This country has leveled civilian populations in cities like Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This country has used clandestine military operations to perform coups that topple democracies all while touting its own success as a free democratic republic. We bathe in the hypocrisy of our actions. Stopping the Nazi war machine was a magnificent feat, but how long did it take for us to do so? How many had to die while we avoided at all costs getting involved, and now we can’t help but involve ourselves to the point of over interference. We provide aid to other countries while our own citizens starve. Our politicians are so corrupted by moneymaking schemes they have forgotten what it means to be a public servant. 

We have made great strides. The rights of the people afforded them (somehow despite being established on the idea that we are all created equal there are still many this does not encompass ex. non us citizens) have improved much over the years, and yet I can’t help but be shocked as to how slow we have moved. Gay marriage wasn’t legalized until 2015. For some reason unknown to me this is shocking. The ancient Greeks while not perfect, seem to be more accepting than us in matter such as these and their society is thousands of years old. We regressed post reconstruction efforts to the point where the civil rights leaders of the 1960s weren’t campaigning for new rights, but ones they had been given that were subsequently taken away. Sometimes it feels as though every step forwards is meet with all the resistance that can be mustered and that occasionally we trip and fall down setting us back more than a few steps. 

I guess the best way to summarize my thoughts so far is that this country isn’t perfect. I spoke with my roommate about it and we talked about how no matter where you go you will live somewhere with significant social and civil rights issues. There’s really no running from it, and it’s something we have to face, and I am glad there are those  willing to rise up to the challenge and fight for a better world. The scary part is those people have always existed, and they have always fought, and there is still so much left to be done. I know this came off as super rambly but I can’t help it, I write how I speak and how I speak isn’t too great. If you’re someone out there who is fighting to change the world to make it a better place please don’t stop because we’re not there yet, not even close.