Today we celebrate the birth of the United States of America 234 years ago.
Who likes the idea of being mediocre? Not me. But I do like the idea that the millions and millions of average people are the deciding factor in whether a nation is great. Yes, it’s wonderful to have fantastic leaders and great managers and genius artists and fabulous engineers who lead the way. But most of us don’t live in a world surrounded by fame and greatness every day. We live in our neighborhoods with average folk. Who they are, who you are, that is what defines America.
You can read my post from yesterday on how I test myself to see if I am living up to what I consider to be American standards.
“What makes a nation great is not primarily its great men, but the stature of its innumerable mediocre ones.” – Jose Ortega y Gasset, 1883-1955, Spanish author and philosopher
I heard a report yesterday that with the turn down in the economy and more people unemployed a survey company thought it would be interesting to find out what people are doing with this new extra time they have. Guess what the survey showed? I’ll be back at the end with the answer. Ever remember being in the middle of this dialog as a kid or an adult? “I am bored, there’s nothing to do.” the kid says. The adult responds: “Well, quit sittin’ around pickin’ your nose and go find something to do!” Basically that is what this world famous literary giant (Jose Ortega y Gasset) is saying. It isn’t about being unemployed at a job. It’s about being unemployed in life, job or not. If your entire life was employed, what would it’s job be? Is it employed on behalf of something or? Your family, charities, friends, causes or? Is it employed in the pursuit of beauty, or truth, or the meaning of life, or the meaning of death, or the meaning of meaning or? Is it employed in creating art or science or a beautiful back yard or a great neighborhood park or? The survey showed Americans are spending this new ‘extra’ time watching TV more and sleeping more. In other words, picking their noses. Don’t let that be you.
“It is the mission of history to make our fellow beings acceptable to us.” Jose Ortega Y Gasset
I think most people don’t realize how different our ‘history’ is now that we have an omnivorous media and access to so many documents we didn’t use to have. Now we can write histories that make people and actions in the past not look acceptable at all. But that wasn’t how it always was.
