Living in Fear of Losing the Expensive Knick-Knacks

As I sit and listen to several motorized leaf-blowers going at the same time in the yards around my house, and I watch the nice new foreign sedans gliding up and down my comfortable upper middle class neighborhood, I begin to truly understand how it is that this society can have turned its back on so many of the things that had defined it previously. Americans in general used to be individualistic and ambitious while at the same time being supremely pleasant, polite and optimistic. Americans in general used to believe in the primacy of the US Constitution as a set of ground rules for the American experiment. Now those things that were once exhibited by a majority of Americans appear to be only the domain of a minority, most of whom are senior citizens. The individualism has been replaced by a herd mentality that makes the French suddenly look like 55 million Daniel Boone/Mark Twain clones. The ambition to succeed in achieving great things has been replaced by a raw, amoral desire for the trappings of wealth. The politeness has gone into hiding way deep in the countryside where, if you can get there, someone might actually still smile and say hello to you simply because that's what done. I have a Sri Lankan American friend who moved away from the DC area to West Virginia years ago to follow a job opportunity, and now he doesn't even like coming back to DC. He says that people here are mean and impolite. And then there's driving culture, Europeans used to visit this country and be absolutely dumbfounded at how courteous the driving was, now they watch themselves 'cause they don't want to get run over by some soccer Mom, or shot by some soccer mom's wacked out husband.

Could it be that Americans have consumed away their combination of independence, grit, and likeability? Could it be that on top of the fear of violence is the even greater fear of losing creature comforts, and the deepest of those fears would be losing those creature comforts while others around you appear to retain them? It seems possible. After all, where some would say that this meaner, more greedy America is the product of 9/11, I would say that previous generations lived with far more danger and precariousness than we have since 9/11 while keeping their positive, friendly, play-fair American-ness. What's different now? Being adult versions of spoilt children is what's different now. This country represents 6% of humanity with the majority of the remaining 94% being poor and without prospects. Perhaps we should all be more mindful of that and try to re-capture the spirit that put his country on the map in the first place....and that spirit did not involve the sowing of fear in one's peers for personal gain.

I think it's possible. Hey, maybe the West Virginians and Kentuckians should re-teach this country how to be more true to itself?

End of Rant. Comments welcome.