The Modern-Day American

I am seventeen years old. Old in the mind of peers, and looked down upon with a gaze of youthful ignorance in the mind of others. It is one of the strangest ages I have ever experienced, as while I almost feel like an adult, I am constantly reminded about how little I know. January 6th, 2021, a day that will go down in infamy, proved once again my ignorance. America, the country I was trained to worship, to stand up and pledge myself to under the eyes of God, seemed to crack.

Watching the news in horror, anger, and confusion, I was blind-sighted to the reality of a polarizing country. Home of the Brave seemed to become home of the petrified, and the tense hyperbole leaves myself and others torn. The pounding of domestic terrorists on the chamber door seemed to echo the beating heart of America, rapid, scared, unruly, angry. America is angry. Blood was spilled and the shining white Capitol was stained. No amount of bleach, diversions, or excuses will be able to erase the tainted unrest that ruined the presented pure heart of government.

So with all of this being said, and Americans being constantly reminded of this tragedy by an ever-present siding media, what is the role of an American? Or to dig further, what even comprises an American? Is it nationality by birth, an unwavering patriotism, a case of firearms in demonstration of the second amendment? This country that we are taught to pride ourselves upon seems to be becoming increasingly more foreign. This country is one of hyphenated ideas and societies, and I feel that in there lies our answer, in the mixing of ideas and desire for change. But again, while I am young and possibly uneducated regarding somethings, I am not blind. I see the tragedy, the civil unrest, the vexation, and do not feel it is something that can be dismissed.

Winston Churchill once stated, “dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.” But America is not a country composed of animals with hunger. America is filled with citizens who demand more from a country that’s basis is to protect and serve its citizens.

On the day this is being written, January 20, 2021, there has been the inauguration of a new president. Watching this day live, I remember that I am living through history, as have many others. Our democratic system is a powerful one, and one that has not failed to unite us in the past before. Perhaps it is only a thought of comfort, but the idea of societies in the past having no hope for the future, only to live to tell the tale is representative of our modern times. It is impossible to know our future, but we do know that we have survived everything thrown at us, as long as we survive it together.