This week many of us are celebrating the USA turning 250: a blink in geological time, not so long compared to the Holy See, a heck of long time for a democracy managing 340 million extremely diverse people.
So this week's open question is What does the USA stand for?
Different ways in:
It's 2076, America turns 300. What do you hope still thrives, what do you hope we let go of?
If you’re from the USA: what makes you proud to be American, and what makes you cringe? If you’re not: what do you admire, and what baffles you?
A personal story, a new frame, a way of seeing that’s totally you (and maybe doesn’t even make sense yet). Does the country reward that way of looking, or does it slide off?
I’m hoping we can cultivate something worth standing for across many different ways of seeing, valuing, and being American, that fits us and our history. I think if we see reverence we bring forth more reverence, and in our seeing we cultivate a territory that earns what we see by rising to it, or denies the validity of our seeing by refusing to.
A bunch of us discussing here at 5p central today, but you can respond here whenever you're ready.
Jordan