Screaming heart.
Inside me, the desire burns to turn back time.
Race me back, 5, 10, 15 , 20...
take me back to childhood and naive hope in the future.
Take me back to when I believed in happy endings
to when I believed my generation
was the greatest generation
and that the world saw us that way.
I lay awake at night and feel
the overwhelming longing
for what has been
for what might have been
I wish to run back in time
To be a child again
to be safe and secure
with my whole life ahead.
A longing so strong
my heart throbs with pain
To be again
with my mother and father
in the arms of my family
when my world was whole and soft and bright
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Monday, November 11, 2013
International Business - Perspectives
I've thinking today about perspective. In this case, national perspective. I've mentioned before that I am back in school. One of my classes has been about International Business, and our class started off with a discussion about how culture affects how business is perceived, or, rather, how one country is perceived by another.
The United States is a wonderful country. It's my home country. I love her. I love the ideals that founded her - the ideals of freedom and democracy and independence. I am aware, however, that we did not invent these principles. The single greatest thing about the United States of America is that we are a mish-mosh of world culture. Like the English language itself, we have incorporated cultural aspects from all over the world into our culture. We began largely with Scots-Irish foundations, based upon English conceits, Scottish Enlightenment principles and a government discovered by the Greeks. We were not the first Republic or the first democracy. We weren't the first ones to fight. We weren't the first ones to explore our world. We weren't the first ones to believe it was our manifest destiny to conquer the "wilds". We are not the most self-aware people. We are not the healthiest people. We are not the most environmentally-savvy people. But the truth is we do not have to be. We are some of the most mixed people on the planet. And we are, in many ways, some of the most idealistic people on the planet. Sometimes because we pull people to us that are idealistic. And we always have.
No one can deny that we have problems. I think sometimes of the Roman Empire and how it splintered from within and I worry. But we are only two and a half centuries old. We are a teenager among nations. We are still finding our place. We may have been a child prodigy in some things, but we are going to hit our roadblocks.
Lately, we've become more aware of this division within - it's easy to see in presidential election results, when every state is one by a margin of 45/55 or 60/40. And everyone keeps talking about how divided we are. Personally, I think we need to concentrate on how we are alike. Cohesion comes from finding areas of commonality and agreement. We need someone who can bring together this country - a leader who will, like a diplomat negotiating a peace treaty, bring people together to agree on something.
It's dangerous to try to be a prognosticator. The Cassandras of the world most frequently get stoned for their trouble. However, I will predict this much. If this nation cannot find a way to come together and identify itself as a country again, it will cease to exist amongst a world of interlinked commerce and culture.
The United States is a wonderful country. It's my home country. I love her. I love the ideals that founded her - the ideals of freedom and democracy and independence. I am aware, however, that we did not invent these principles. The single greatest thing about the United States of America is that we are a mish-mosh of world culture. Like the English language itself, we have incorporated cultural aspects from all over the world into our culture. We began largely with Scots-Irish foundations, based upon English conceits, Scottish Enlightenment principles and a government discovered by the Greeks. We were not the first Republic or the first democracy. We weren't the first ones to fight. We weren't the first ones to explore our world. We weren't the first ones to believe it was our manifest destiny to conquer the "wilds". We are not the most self-aware people. We are not the healthiest people. We are not the most environmentally-savvy people. But the truth is we do not have to be. We are some of the most mixed people on the planet. And we are, in many ways, some of the most idealistic people on the planet. Sometimes because we pull people to us that are idealistic. And we always have.
No one can deny that we have problems. I think sometimes of the Roman Empire and how it splintered from within and I worry. But we are only two and a half centuries old. We are a teenager among nations. We are still finding our place. We may have been a child prodigy in some things, but we are going to hit our roadblocks.
Lately, we've become more aware of this division within - it's easy to see in presidential election results, when every state is one by a margin of 45/55 or 60/40. And everyone keeps talking about how divided we are. Personally, I think we need to concentrate on how we are alike. Cohesion comes from finding areas of commonality and agreement. We need someone who can bring together this country - a leader who will, like a diplomat negotiating a peace treaty, bring people together to agree on something.
It's dangerous to try to be a prognosticator. The Cassandras of the world most frequently get stoned for their trouble. However, I will predict this much. If this nation cannot find a way to come together and identify itself as a country again, it will cease to exist amongst a world of interlinked commerce and culture.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)