We are going through growing pains, aggirvated massively by the fact that 20 years ago our President told us to give in to fear!
Thing is, countries often act a lot like individuals psychologically.
And in every individual's life there is a difficulty that one must face on one's own- the first crisis one faces as a full adult.
The first time one is fully on one's own, as an independent adult, and faces a crisis- without one's parents to hold your hand through this.
This must be especially hard for foster children becoming adults for the first time.
This is a difficulty that everyone who becomes an independent adult must face and go through.
This is what America is going through right now.
Until the World Wars, America did not have to worry about what happened in the rest of the world, outside of the Americas.
That coudn't affect us. That was out there.
All we had to do is deal with life in the Americas.
And by the later 19th Century we were definitely the big dog in the Americas.
Then came World War I, and the world was looking to us to rebuild civilization.
Then came World War II- and we were the ones that had to face Hitler, way over in Germany.
And Our millitary base got bombed- by Japan, way over in Asia.
For the first time, America had to face the wider world.
But we have faced many crises since then.
What makes now so different?
Young people have a much easier time saving someone else than they do saving themself.
You are a young teenager, and someone else is in trouble. You get to be Superman, a Superhero.
As a young person, saving yourself is much harder.
In WWII, what we were going through was nothing compared to what France and Poland were going through.
The Great Depression was far worse in Germany, where they had to face far more than just money problems.
In the Cold War, what we were going through was nothing compared to what Poland and Hungary were going through.
But when America sank into a mental crisis in the early 1990's it was as hard on America as it was for our allies- harder, even.
This was the first time that America as a country that had to worry about the world beyond the Americas faced a crisis that was as hard for us as it was for our allies.
This is our first time having to take care of ourselves as an adult country.
The last time we faced a crisis that was as bad for us as it was for our allies, it was the American Civil War.
We got through that. That was far, far more difficult and far, far worse than what we are going through now.
And France and Germany, Poland and Belgium have recovered from things at least as bad as that.
But that was back when we only had to worry about what happened in the Americas.
This is the first time that we as a nation have faced a crisis that is as difficult for us as for our allies as a nation that now has to worry about what happens beyond the Americas.
This is our first crisis as an adult where we have to take care of ourselves, rather than getting to be Superman and save someone else.
And when President George W. Bush told us to give in to fear, it made it so much worse.
Thing is, every successful adult has faced this and gotten through it successfully.
Every successful nation that is more than three centuries old has faced this successfully.
We'll get through this.
And when we do, we'll be so much stronger.
And where is this headed?
Look to Marcus Aurelius's Rome.
That will be America in 100 years.
We will be a mature civilization like the Chinese Empire of the Han Dynasty.
We will be Marcus Aurelius's Rome.
That is where we are headed.
It will be beautiful.
America has a beautiful future.
We are building it right now.
Look to the future! Look to the light!
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson