One evening at a local theatre, I met a woman who played the double bass and was waiting for rehearsal for an upcoming opera. Ignorant of most instruments, I asked if what she had in the case was a cello (excuse the digression, I love the cello), she kindly corrected me and informed me of the differences between the two instruments. We then continued on into a pleasant discussion on city public transit, Independence Day, traveling, and most enlightening, the state of our nations.
The musician is from Turkey and has lived in the US for a brief year and a half. She and her husband teach music at a couple of Virginia Universities. The musician told me what it was like in Turkey and the reason she moved. There she lived under the controversial president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose power is virtually unlimited and plots for coups are almost commonplace. I asked what was her opinion of our dear country.
She responded by explaining how it may be hard to see the positive things of where I live because I am an insider. She can see the bigger picture and how, yes, things may be bad. Quite bad, actually, with our toxic tribalism, political turmoil, the isolation of complex issues into simplified political stances, a historically incoherent president that damages our image as a nation and who risks the livelihood of its people, etc. etc. The list goes on, but to her, these mountains can and will be conquered.
The musician confided how Turkey was no longer an optimal place for them to one day raise a family. According to her, in her home country speech is very limited. Criticizing the president can have dire consequences. In schools, religious activities are part of the curriculum. There, the ability to exercise rights is not guaranteed. In contrast, here we can criticize the president and do so vehemently.
Freedom of religion exists and can be expressed in the classroom and anywhere. She recognizes that our freedoms are inalienable and trusts that the fight for more communities to gain those rights will be victorious.
I do not mean to insult another country, or to be in denial of our problems. I am a pessimist and it is rare for me to think and appreciate the positive aspects of our nation. I am angry, often with raging thoughts about the state of America that simmers down to a sense hopelessness. I sometimes wonder if I’ll just move to a Scandinavian country where the government isn’t as against progress.
I’ve always resented the argument that there are nations worse off. It’s true, there is, but that it is a cop-out, an excuse to continue to be stagnant. But hearing it from someone who is new to this nation, I made aware of a small glimmer of hope, that there is still a chance. We must hang on to the foundation of freedom and fight for the America that stands for multiculturalism and innovation.
Remember the famous sentiment held by great speakers such as Theodore Parker, president Barack Obama, and the late, great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “The moral arc of the universe is long but bends towards justice”.
This statement is not self-evident, and I do not believe progress is phenomenon inherent in the universe. No, it is our responsibility, as members of a nation and of modern society, to forge the moral arc and to ensure that it bends towards justice for all.