Why America isn't the greatest country in the world anymore.

Fitting for John Wayne day on TCM

I listen to this video and meditated on it it. Not as much as I probably should have, but long enough to make a few points. The speaker given the final answer was only partly right. We are no longer the greatest country in the world, in every aspect that he laid out. Education, math, science, technology, prisons, abortions. And so many other areas too numerous to list. But that's not the test of a great nation. Compassion, loyalty, honor, patriotism, empathy. And a few other human traits that can't be quantified through statistics. My father, himself a former Marine, punished me once when I was 14 years old for using the "N" word towards my best friend. In fact he grounded me indefinitely. With one stipulation. He gave me a note book with 300 blank pages in it. He told me to write on the front page, title it "Things We Have In Common". And one the back page, title it " What Makes Us Different ". He further told me, I could not use thing that we as humans had no control over. For example, my friend was black and I was white. He said, I could not use race or the color of one skin as something that is different or anything else that we had no control over. I was grounded for a month before I wrote my fist line. I got off of being grounded in my first year as a junior in High School. What we had in common took 362 pages. Our differences never got a single line. My father allow w me to teach myself to think of everyone in the world as a separate individual. Not as a country or a nation or a continent. He told me each time you meet someone, look them straight in the eye ans introduce yourself and stick out your hand to shake Thiers. He said when a man looks you in the eyes, he can tell sincerity. When you stick our your hand, you show trust. He also taught me to show a genuine interest in what people have to say. In doing so, you help build confidence. So when you ask a person, such as myself is this the greatest nation in the world, I simply say, WE TRY TO BE.

One of the greatest scenes in tv history!!