7/4/2011 - why America is great. . .

CNNMoney released a list of the 100 greatest things about America, and while the merits of this list are definitely debatable, #82 caught my attention: "Blogging - We're all writers now.  Uh oh. . ."

Though I wouldn't think to put 'blogging' as one of America's best-loved features, I haven't actually thought too much about what I would put on this list.

If I were more politically savvy or had a better sense of history, I could probably come up with a whole thesis on why America is great and why I love living here, from the birth of this country to the incredible odds we've overcome.  All that patriotic stuff I vaguely remember from junior high social studies classes--one nation under God; out of many, one; and various other things that are meant to remind us that we live in a prosperous and thriving nation, that diversity makes us so.

But I am politically selective in what I care about, and so am I with my memory of American history.  So if I were to sit here and go on about the greatness of America because of the nature of our politics or the wonders of our economy or some other facet that relied on actual knowledge, this post would sound like a casserole of Wikipedia entries ('out of many, one' indeed) at best, a high school term paper written the night before its due date at worst.

What would go on this list, then, if I don't have politics and history to expound upon?  I can't convincingly argue the beauty of democracy, nor the merits of capitalism, though I recognize the importance of their respective places in our country.  I vote, though admittedly not on every issue or position listed on ballots.  I am not certain I can tell you who all signed the Constitution, or the names of more than a handful of presidents, and I certainly couldn't go into any better than passing detail on a description of the Civil War.

But when I think of myself, a gay Asian man living in one of the most progressive cities in America, I recognize that I probably have little to nothing in common with the majority of the country save two things: my lack of knowledge on America itself, and that I can still think of myself proudly as nothing but an American.

So my list would be short, just one little item, that I am happy to be an American.  A bad one, maybe, but nevertheless, one, and I wouldn't want to be anything or anywhere else.