Teeter Tottering between Beauty and the Storm

Always seek to find the beauty on stormy days...

I grew up as an "American Exceptionalist" -- thinking the U.S. democracy was the best thing since...slice bread? hot tubs? swims in the ocean?! -- to the extent I was an American Studies major in college.

Today I think a lot about our U.S. white culture as a teeter totter that has been slammed to the ground on the side of individualism and is now completely stuck...with our communities dangling mid-air and too many squashed beneath the side on the ground.

It is such a delicate balance, as theorists and theologians far more profound than I, have explored -- between the I and the Thou, the individual and her culture.

The founders sought to balance the rights of the individual with the responsibilities of the citizen in both our Bill of Rights and the Constitution.

The "finger on the scale" that slams the balance down on the side of individualism is that too often we give up citizenship (along with the basic principles of christianity and other religions) for the sake of consumerism.

For the privilege and convenience of getting what we want, whenever we want it.

For pushing ourselves to the front of the bread line even when we are not in need of sustenance.

For always saying "I" comes first and others second.

Our communities are only as strong as we who come together to meet our common needs -- and especially those of the most vulnerable amongst us.

American culture, despite its alleged grounding in christianity, abhors systems thinking. To admit that we have built systems that oppress others (see: slavery; see: sexism) and shape our culture to this day is to break the cult of "American exceptionalism."

If we failed to see this throughout the five assassinations that broke progressive momentum for civil rights and wages for all in the 1960's, then perhaps we will remember that legacy in light of today's political violence.

The politically motivated shooting of public servants -- and the superfluous access to weapons that make it possible -- shows again the U.S. in its most damning light.

We are not exceptional -- especially as long as individual rights are privileged over the common good.

In order to re-balance our teeter totter, all of us that have slid toward the ground side of individual consumerism need to shift our positions.

We'll all need to give something up to achieve a better balance, one that teeters more toward the common than the individual good.

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