Being American
this entry brought to you by a perfect circle, "the noose"
I hate it when some self-righteous, patriotic asshole gives me an example of why some hellish third-world country is the worst place in the world, and because of this, I'm lucky that I was born in America where things are so much better.
See, luck honestly had nothing to do with it. I really couldn't have been born anywhere else but America. At the time of my birth, my mom had never left America, so it's impossible for me to have been born in another country. Now, if my mom's molecules were unstable during her pregnancy and were prone to periodic, spontaneous teleportation to random countries, then yeah, I would be lucky to be born in America. But, seeing as how my mom was born in America and lived every second of her life up until and after my birth on American soil, I can't say that I ever even had a slim chance of not being American.
And, since I'm on the subject, why would I feel particularly proud to be an American? I'm not saying I'm unhappy, I mean, certainly I'm comfortable being American, but proud? I mean, it wasn't an accomplishment or anything. I didn't do anything to achieve my American-ness. It's not like when I was born the doctor spun the Nationality Lottery Wheel and I got unlucky and ended up being Iraqian, and had to fight hard to get my citizenship or anything. That would be an accomplishment worth being proud of. I guess I should be proud of breathing rather than being born with the umbilical chord around my neck or something was something that took effort. Yes, I'm sure that first American breath was quite an accomplishment. Still, somehow the pride kind of alludes me.
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with love from CRS @ 11:28 PM
Sunday, April 09, 2006
I hate it when some self-righteous, patriotic asshole gives me an example of why some hellish third-world country is the worst place in the world, and because of this, I'm lucky that I was born in America where things are so much better.
See, luck honestly had nothing to do with it. I really couldn't have been born anywhere else but America. At the time of my birth, my mom had never left America, so it's impossible for me to have been born in another country. Now, if my mom's molecules were unstable during her pregnancy and were prone to periodic, spontaneous teleportation to random countries, then yeah, I would be lucky to be born in America. But, seeing as how my mom was born in America and lived every second of her life up until and after my birth on American soil, I can't say that I ever even had a slim chance of not being American.
And, since I'm on the subject, why would I feel particularly proud to be an American? I'm not saying I'm unhappy, I mean, certainly I'm comfortable being American, but proud? I mean, it wasn't an accomplishment or anything. I didn't do anything to achieve my American-ness. It's not like when I was born the doctor spun the Nationality Lottery Wheel and I got unlucky and ended up being Iraqian, and had to fight hard to get my citizenship or anything. That would be an accomplishment worth being proud of. I guess I should be proud of breathing rather than being born with the umbilical chord around my neck or something was something that took effort. Yes, I'm sure that first American breath was quite an accomplishment. Still, somehow the pride kind of alludes me.
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