First seen at Huffington Post

I had a bad dream that won’t go away.

I had this realization that the United States may be essentially “screwed” (not by others, but by itself) as globalization, both socially and economically, becomes more of a reality.

In the dream I looked at the United States through the eyes of the rest of the world and this is what I saw and concluded:

1. “You don’t have a work ethic among your youth or much of your young adults or even middle age adults. By this we mean that unless you are incentivized by a near term material gain or something that adds to your personal status or stature, you don’t try. And also, unless you see that what you are doing will lead to that personal, self-serving goal, you stop trying.”
2. “You act entitled instead of earning what you deserve. That means that you believe that what you want should automatically come to you. You confuse a privilege (which you need to earn) with a right, that is given to you.”
3. “You resist thinking and planning unless it gets you an immediate reward. You are not intellectually curious. You fight learning and instead are focused on having.”
4. “We no longer need your services (which we are quickly becoming skilled at…including creativity which you think is yours alone) nor your products (as ours are increasingly becoming better in quality and reliability).”
5. “What we do need, but increasingly less now than before, is your money to buy our services and products, which you will keep paying us as our services and products increase in quality and are less expensive because we are not weighed down by all your excessive labor and other costs.”
6. “And we are certainly quite happy for you to use your resources both in money and in manpower to go chasing after terrorism in the world. And since we know you will go it alone, we are perfectly happy to let you do that until you can no longer afford it (which has already occurred).”
7. “We are not against you, but if you steadfastly refuse to wake up and do a reality check to see that you are part of the global community and no longer ‘King of the Hill,’ the world will pass you by.”

There was much more in the dream which I thankfully can’t recall, but I think that’s enough to keep me awake for many nights to come.

Please tell me I am wrong.

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It took Pearl Harbor for America to enter WW II despite Germany and Japan having all but ravaged its enemies.  It took the Cuban missile crisis for America to risk nuclear war even after many countries had fallen to Communist totalitarianism. It took 9/11 for America to take terrorism and the enemy across the border seriously enough to wage an all out war while other countries and continents have been living with that reality for decades.

Before that America slept just as Britain had prior to WWII (and that was written about by John F. Kennedy when he was a college student in 1940). 

Why did we sleep? Because despite Americans having espoused their lofty ideals (maybe it’s a case of “the country doth protest too much”), when push came to shove perhaps it really hasn’t cared about other countries unless it served our self interests.  It is not lost on the global observer that yes, helping rebuild Germany and Japan may have helped them, but it also enabled America to help itself to those countries as a market for our products and services that spanned decades.

Now what if America is getting a taste of its own “your problem, not my problem” medicine from countries that we served up to them for decades (maybe even centuries)?  What if just like us they are content to let America be in the crosshairs of terrorist regimes and turn a jaundiced eye rather than roll their sleeves up and help?  Why put their young men and women in harm’s way, when we resisted doing the same in every international conflict until we were unable to avoid it any longer?

Bless President elect Obama and I wish him luck.  He is running on all cylinders enjoining us to finally get it.  It’s no longer about “us” vs. “them,” it has to be about “we” with “them.” 

Until America switches its mineset (only about America) to ourset (about the world), we will remain stuck.