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I am not sure what being happy has to do with getting a higher education. I am a happy person who is currently enrolled in classes working toward a degree. One can be happy and still think there may be a better way.
I am very proud to be an American! I just am sometimes embarrassed by the people, who are also American's, and run around stomping their feet and throwing tantrums like little children. I am not speaking of anyone in this forum, but there are people in this country whose behavior is appalling!
Also, I would not be the person who I am were I raised in some other country. America has given me the freedom to be myself! I have learned in ways and had liberties I would not have had in some other country.
I hope this clarifies my meaning!
I am not sure what your comment on education is about. I probably made a mistake and equated your comment on happiness as being tantamount to contentedness.
People who are always looking for a better way are not usually content with things as they are. When they say they love America, it often means the America that they foresee in the future, a better country, something that is truly a government representing the will of the people and not corporations, for example.
I, too, am upset by irrational and foolish people, but I would probably envision religious fanatics who would exchange our freedoms for a rule by their fundamentalist ideologies.
I would be interested in hearing how your ways of learning and liberties are different than those in most of the Western countries. There are nations in which jobs are easier to get, in which a college education is free for qualifying students, in which getting cancer will not leave you destitute, in which organ transplants are available for people over 50.
Many would say that our liberties are rapidly dwindling. Our constitution did not lock us in to a two party system, but interests have made it very difficult to create a viable third party. Other countries may ban food ingredients that are dangerous to the consumer. Our government seems to only take the side of corporations that do not want these ingredients even listed on labels. Other countries attempt to keep the price of life saving drugs within the range of their populations. People die here from lack of medical assistance.
Middle class people with health insurance go bankrupt from medical conditions because their insurance will not cover the condition properly. This country has freedoms, but mostly for corporations and not for people.
We have a lot of serious rethinking to do in the US. I am glad that you are happy, but I would also tell you that this generation has less to be happy about than their parents did. This is the first generation in the US that will not expect to do better than their parents.
Not to mention the degradation of the environment.
The situation is serious, and, happy or not, we must act now.
Let's approach this logically. What did you do to become an American? Most of us were just born in America. Being an American isn't really an accomplishment so it makes no sense to be proud to be an American. We shouldn't be ashamed either, but it makes no sense to be proud. Maybe it makes sense if you moved to America to be proud that you took the time and effort to become an American, but being proud of anything you achieved simply by being born (race, nationality, sex, etc.) is silly.
Goldengrain, if I believed in your premise I would probably agree with you in general. But I don't agree with either. So we simply have to agree to disagree and leave it there. You see everything ... past, present, future, from another dimension. I don't look at this President or any past President, or any Administration for that matter, as either completely wrong or completely right. Our history shows that many great Presidents have made bad decisions ... comes with the territory.
We now idolize past Presidents who were not much loved at the time. Hindsight is always interesting and over time we'll see how we look back on the past 7 years.
You and I live in a very different world. I know no one living in a bubble of complacency. Everyone I know is engaged and involved in all that goes on around them not only in our country but in our world; yet they are driven by a positive force.
Our individual happiness is based on our ability to look at the positive side of things while trying to do whatever we can to right the negatives. If you view our country with a "glass half empty" mentality, then you will be miserable.
I don't know who you refer to as "this generation" ... those in their teens? Twenties? Thirties? And I'm not sure what your definition of "better" is. Because the opportunities available to those in their teens, twenties and even thirties are far greater than the opportunities that were available to my generation. We never had the disposable income that is tossed around today. I'm constantly amazed at the amount of money spent travelling great distances, going out to eat, flying all over the world and cruising to exotic locations. We just didn't do it ... our families didn't have that kind of excess income. A week in a little cottage at the Cape was a big deal. Kids shared rooms, didn't have TV's, computers or cellphones.
"This generation" isn't better off? Again, depends on your definition of "better". We have become a very spoiled nation believing that which we used to struggle for is now a "right" rather than something we strive to attain, to earn.
If this "gimme gimme" mentality continues then I will withdraw my long held pride, but I still believe in the "glass half full" so I continue to be proud to be an American.
i'm also prouder to say that bush or any president before or after him have never stood for anything i truely believe... but isn't that what it means to be an american?
to say you're not proud to be an american but still live here is retarded. regardless of whoever the figure head is, we're still the greatest country in the world.
to say you're not proud to be an american but still live here is retarded. regardless of whoever the figure head is, we're still the greatest country in the world.
Have you lived in other countries? How do you know this is the greatest country in the world? It is your perception and belief; how do you prove that this is a fact.
Goldengrain, if I believed in your premise I would probably agree with you in general. But I don't agree with either. So we simply have to agree to disagree and leave it there. You see everything ... past, present, future, from another dimension. I don't look at this President or any past President, or any Administration for that matter, as either completely wrong or completely right. Our history shows that many great Presidents have made bad decisions ... comes with the territory.
We now idolize past Presidents who were not much loved at the time. Hindsight is always interesting and over time we'll see how we look back on the past 7 years.
You and I live in a very different world. I know no one living in a bubble of complacency. Everyone I know is engaged and involved in all that goes on around them not only in our country but in our world; yet they are driven by a positive force.
Our individual happiness is based on our ability to look at the positive side of things while trying to do whatever we can to right the negatives. If you view our country with a "glass half empty" mentality, then you will be miserable.
I don't know who you refer to as "this generation" ... those in their teens? Twenties? Thirties? And I'm not sure what your definition of "better" is. Because the opportunities available to those in their teens, twenties and even thirties are far greater than the opportunities that were available to my generation. We never had the disposable income that is tossed around today. I'm constantly amazed at the amount of money spent travelling great distances, going out to eat, flying all over the world and cruising to exotic locations. We just didn't do it ... our families didn't have that kind of excess income. A week in a little cottage at the Cape was a big deal. Kids shared rooms, didn't have TV's, computers or cellphones.
"This generation" isn't better off? Again, depends on your definition of "better". We have become a very spoiled nation believing that which we used to struggle for is now a "right" rather than something we strive to attain, to earn.
If this "gimme gimme" mentality continues then I will withdraw my long held pride, but I still believe in the "glass half full" so I continue to be proud to be an American.
The 'income' is purchasing power, not discrete dollars. The standard of living refers to the number of job openings on the market for a kid when he graduates, the cost of a small apartment in a safe neighborhood, etc. Middle class people going bankrupt by the cost of medical care, even while having insurance? Blinders on, surely.
Our middle class is gradually morphing into a few who are wealthy, and like you see no problem vs. the large numbers who are really starting to feel the pinch, so many have stopped contributing to their 401k plans, hoping to work forever, hoping that companies will not rid themselves of the dead wood once they become older.
Well, so long as it does not affect you . . . I am happy that there are some who are still content. You have heard of food pantries running out of food lately? There are more and more people going to them, and they are middle class who have never had to do that before. On top of that, corporations are not contributing as much, having to tighten their belts, too. I am so glad that you see through these starving people for what they really are . . . their 'gimmie-gimmie' attitudes. I should tell them that. I'm sure that it would straighten them out, help them reset priorities.
Know what, GG? I can't even finish reading your post because you continue to insult me which is no way to gain my attention.
I stated my case without insulting you yet you can't seem to do that. We disagree. I respect that, you do not. The fact that you don't even realize there just might be another way of looking at things simply proves my point.
As I said, I didn't accept your last premise and I still don't. I don't know where you live, doesn't matter, but if anyone has blinders on, it's you.
So our discussion is over. I stand by my previous post and there's really nothing to say beyond that.
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