First the disclaimer - I love America and Americans - this is why I am posting this.
I have been wondering - why Americans eat so badly? Why do they sleep so badly? Why do they put work and money and stuff so highly?
Now of course not all Americans are like this but my bet is that the majority are.
So here are some of my own answers that drive a conclusion and then why I worry so much.
First of all food. While many are Foodies, this is for many more like being a connoisseur of porn than people who make food and its social and spitual aspects vital. I think of all those gorgeous kitchens where no one cooks. Many more seem to use food as therapy. To feed an inner hunger. We who do not live in the US are stunned at the amounts that you eat as a matter of routine. Stunned by how fast you eat and by how often.
Food is losing its value as the centre of community and the oil that lubricates society. It is becoming masturbatory. A quick individual release.
No nation sleeps as badly as Americans. Maybe a big meal at the end of the day does not help? Somehow sleep seems like a waste of time. If you are awake, you could be watching more TV, playing more games, working more? If you are sleeping, well you are not being productive. And by the way - a 2 hour lunch has to be a waste too - right? Any way you don't need a lot of sleep do you? And anyway - when you have had 6 coffees you are good to go.
After all, we all have to get on in the world and work is the way to get there and stuff is the measure.
Many wish they could spend more time with their kids but..... Well I have to make a living. Many wish they could have a better relationship with their partners ... but you are so tired at the end of the day. Of course we don't have time to have a family meal.
Many wish they could see their family more often, but we have had to move so often that we hardly ever see them.
Now before you get too pissed off with me - some disclosure - I am talking about how I lived for 25 years.
So why am I so worried. Because giving your life up to the MAN is a fake. He does not care about you. In fact he laughs at your pretensions and ambition. There is next to no social mobility in the US and less and less every year. The dream that you aspire to is a fake - A Potemkin Village.
So I worry that your great nation that was founded in true self resiliency - where men and women left all they knew for a chance to be themselves - a nation founded in true family and community - for no pioneer coould make it on their own - has become a nation of dependent serfs who don't even see the lords who rule them.
But the props behind the facade are becoming more visible every day. Time to see the illusion and the price you have paid. Time to think about what is important and lasting.
In the holly bush by our front door is a Robin's nest. The eggs have hatched, and both parents are working hard doing the most important work that any of us have - they are feeding, protecting and raising their young.
I find it sad that they know this and we often don't. Freedom is an American ideal - time my friends to find it again