America The Beautiful

THE CENTURION CHRONICLE
Special Issue – Apr 2010

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL
(does it need just a touch of makeup….or an extreme make-over?)

Most of us think that America is stumbling and bumbling about right now, and its reflections in the mirror are not looking so good anymore.

The more generous-minded of us might compare this situation to that of a thirty-something debutante who now needs a touch more make-up and haute-couture to maintain the glamorous image of her youth. Others, on the other hand, perhaps more cynical and disillusioned by the events in the past decade or so, are more inclined to think of it as an aging courtesan, well past her prime, which no amount of make-up or fancy clothes can make her presentable again. They prefer to think in terms of extreme make-over instead.

Personally, I don’t agree with that approach. I’m more inclined to think of her as a grand old broad who’s left all those wild, hot-young-chick days of her lurid past….in the past, thus making her even more attractive, more intriguing, and more glamorous than ever before (okay, I never cared much for debutantes, preferring to chase after their forty-plus chaperones instead!).

Let’s face it….all of us were once part of the –bold and the beautiful -. Some were bolder and more beautiful than others, but, for the most part, most of us still “have it”. Only now we’re working stiffs, taxpayers, with families and kids, jobs, careers, mortgages, and all of those things which make up our daily lives. Partying from dawn to dusk just doesn’t have the appeal it once had. C’est la vie.

That’s our America today.

So why are we in such a state about things? Since day one of our republic we’ve always had heated arguments, debates, and contentions (some even violent) about what we did or did not want, what to do, or not to do. Nothing has changed. We’re still at it, constantly trying to re-invent ourselves as a nation. The only one in the world whose political process functions like one of those daytime soap-operas we all love to watch.

But, when all is said and done. When the free-for-all in wild rhetoric of the moment, and extreme put-downs of those on the other side of an issue from us, is over, we settle down to come up with not only right solutions for our problems, but practical ones, and most important….just solutions besides. That’s the American way.

Well, our country may be a grand old broad these days….but she’s still….beautiful. So let’s not forget….we’re the ones…who have to keep her so.

CENTURION.