Sunday, September 30, 2018

America's true exceptionalism!




I've always been intrigued by the concept of "American Exceptionalism!" And so I just had to check the meaning of the word, "exceptional" in an old-fashioned thesaurus. I learned that synonyms include
"unusual, rare, far above others in quality or excellence
or beyond the normal or customary"

Consequently, it's easy for me to apply the term to America:
both historically and in this "exceptional" era in which we find ourselves.

Historically has any country been able to create a new society and culture where none had existed before? Except that we exceptionally destroyed a pre-existing culture and enslaved another race in order to build our own concept of excellence!

But that's all in the past, isn't it? Let's look at current events and recent history for other behaviors "beyond the normal or customary."

  1. Remember how unusual it was to see a single, rare individual here in Washington at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and 34th St., year in and year out, good weather or bad? Stationing himself in front of the Vatican Embassy, this male individual carried signs stating that the Pope was shielding pedophiles. I wonder if anyone has recommended him for Sainthood now that we have “true facts”?
  2. I thought it quite "unusual" that Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh would cite “regular church attendance” as a hallmark of his high character. This same statement must have been uttered by the thousands of priests who used their power and strength to take sexual advantage of children and destroy lives.
  1. What a lost opportunity for exceptionalism was lost by the millions and millions of Germans who have always proclaimed Germany to be Christian nation. All they had to do in the 1930s was ask themselves, "What would Jesus do " in response to the evil of Adolph Hitler?
  1. I admit to being among the many who were skeptical of President W. Bush when he admitted to changing his behavioral pattern from carousing and drinking after finding religion. Yet the tenor of his life gives credence to such a conversion. While I may still question some of his leadership, I do not question his veracity and motivation. Perhaps the time is ripe to have less hypocrisy in religion and all phases of life. Five hundred years ago there was an extremely exceptional event known as the Protestant Reformation. Then and now
  2. exceptional times call for rare or unusual behavior. Certainly we saw at the recent hearings the usual example of male domination, blustering, and venomous divisiveness. How crass that Republican senators would not even speak to one of their "invited guests. How courageous for an "ordinary" citizen to speak to a "power personage” in an elevator, and that courageous act provided the stimulus for change.

After 92 years of life. I've had revealed to me some extremely exceptional events and occurrences – the #Me-too by women is one of the most dramatic.

HOWEVER,

the bravery of these millions of women is awaiting an answer from the millions of men who still hide behind anonymity.

The male counter movement might well be entitled

#Iconfess (to my brute-like behavior)

ARE YOU LISTENING
Bill Clinton
Don Trump (and your locker room co-hearts?


PS. And while I earlier committed to having my next rant about "the sporting scene and its effect on American family life" I MUST place in higher priority. The topic that continues to intrigued me,

The rationale for a religious reformation - 500 years after Martin Luther!



1 comment:

  1. Best wishes for a happy Christmas and peaceful new year, Ron.

    ReplyDelete