I am lucky to be an American. “I have lived a life of comfort and plenty and have done little to deserve it, most of it being occasioned by being born white and male — in mid-20th century America,” (James Gustave Speth in “Angels by the River”). Similar good fortune enabled me to learn the three Rs, stay reasonably well-informed about world events and to study history and the humanities at the U of M on the GI bill. Without this start it is unlikely that I would have joined the Guy Noir Fan Club seeking answers to life’s eternal questions and trying to understand our civilization.

I use the term civilization loosely. We seized our land by force from people decimated by syphilis and smallpox introduced by the Spaniards. Our treatment of those remaining shows little evidence of civilization. Later we founded a system of land-grant colleges dedicated to uplifting the population economically and culturally. Profiting from our World War II experience we initiated the Marshall plan to rebuild war torn Europe after World War II. We shared our technology with foreign students. We formed the United Nations. Good! Exceptional! Somehow we allowed ourselves to be convinced that doing well was better than doing good, forfeiting any legitimate claim to exceptionalism.

Now our colleges are so expensive that students must lease their future to attend. Repaying the loans necessitates that you and the university concentrate on job skill development at the expense of civilizing pursuits. Now we struggle to defend our intellectual property! When the U.N. fails to dance to our tune we pick up our marbles and go home. Our treatment of the planet “is probably the greatest dereliction of civic responsibility in the history of the Republic.”

My self-indulgent generation has squandered opportunities to build a better world. I can’t boast of being a proud American.

 

John E. Gibson

Owatonna