Updated proposal: Together, we pledge allegiance to the best of America, its democratic principles and economic opportunity, its many freedoms, and high standards of true justice for all. We believe America's destiny co-exists within the community of civilized nations, enriched by the culturally-rich dreams, cultures, and divinities of all lands. Thus, we commit to sustain all living things and the inherited, good earth on which human and animal life and survival depend.
Okay, I dropped the flag (a war relic), God (under or wherever, by definition beyond our commands), and the "indivisible" ploy. One may invoke national unity as a goal but logic fades when proclaiming anything man-made (temporal and geographical) "indivisible," as if immutable.
Community Grows - or Withers
What most depresses me isn't bad news per se, but ruthless assaults against the hard-won legacy of what Americanism at its best can stand for, symbolized by education for all, barn-raising and taking care of the other guy in need. Divided and alienated, even if we elect courageous leaders, insufficient critical mass won't address continent-sized dilemmas. Ransacking the environment is bad enough, but torpedoing the national spirit guarantees stalemate. As Einstein teaches: "You cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that created it."
Long piece, but you NEED to read it.
Another interesting read:
In an age, when nature is besieged and the political landscape blighted, and one stands, stoop shouldered and wincing into the howling wasteland of epic-scale idiocy extant in the era, a solitary person can feel lost ... marooned inside an increasingly isolated sense of self. Whether urban, suburban, or rural dwelling, the sense of alienation, for an individual, is profound ... as discernible to the eye as the constellations of foreclosure signs stippling overgrown front lawns across the land ... as hidden as the abandoned dreams within.
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