{photo from GOOD}
My politics may be progressive, but I love my often-flawed country. I think we too often cave to fear of the different, but that it's human nature, and as a country of immigrants, it's, unfortunately, easier to fall into traps of division. The inequality gap may be growing at an alarming rate, women may not make equal pay for equal work, homosexuals may not be able to serve honestly in our military or have marriage rights in most of the country, the poor may be unrepresented, the wealthy may own our elections, but my father was born into a poor farming family in Vietnam and my mom's family lost their store after the end of the war. Now I'm a graduate from a liberal arts college with ripe opportunities if I went searching. I can spend someone's month's salary on one coffee at an overpriced chain shop that has taken over the globe if I wanted. I can shout into the netherworld because of some magical electromagnetic something-or-other about whatever I wanted. I could say I hated this country and not fear repercussions (mostly).I'm not disillusioned about our imperfections, but I love my country none-the-less.
Happy birthday, home and native land of mine.
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