After the Boston bombings all you hear on the news and radio are calls for a more vigilant, closed and alert America, and frankly who can dispute the need for this given that a couple of young boys can so easily disrupt the peace and security of this country's cities? But necessary as that might be, it is not a happy thing. It is saddening to think that a nation, a people, so entrenched with a feeling of freedom and openness should have to change its very core.
Historically, America as a nation has been built upon the pioneering spirit of immigrants. Those who dared to do were welcomed here and got the opportunity at a fresh start. For centuries it has been a land where people came from anywhere and everywhere and made it their home. In many ways this was also responsible for its success- people with a go-getter spirit are hard working, innovative and in the end more likely to succeed. So, if this new wave of what can only be called necessary paranoia does manage to grip the psyche and the soul of this nation, what will it do to its spirit? I am sure the answer is not a very comforting one. It will stifle something very critical, something that keeps societies from slipping into the dead landscape of a risk-free stagnant life.
Innovation,diversity and tolerance are what move a society and more critically the human race, forward. If you take these away and replace it all with "a mindset of vigilance", people will only be spending time avoiding danger never having tasted the rewards that come from taking a risk.They will exist but never really live.
Historically, America as a nation has been built upon the pioneering spirit of immigrants. Those who dared to do were welcomed here and got the opportunity at a fresh start. For centuries it has been a land where people came from anywhere and everywhere and made it their home. In many ways this was also responsible for its success- people with a go-getter spirit are hard working, innovative and in the end more likely to succeed. So, if this new wave of what can only be called necessary paranoia does manage to grip the psyche and the soul of this nation, what will it do to its spirit? I am sure the answer is not a very comforting one. It will stifle something very critical, something that keeps societies from slipping into the dead landscape of a risk-free stagnant life.
Innovation,diversity and tolerance are what move a society and more critically the human race, forward. If you take these away and replace it all with "a mindset of vigilance", people will only be spending time avoiding danger never having tasted the rewards that come from taking a risk.They will exist but never really live.
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