(Note: the following message was sent to me last night by my friend Daniel Cohn, Associate Professor of Political Science at York University in Toronto, Ontario.) (Originally posted on blueoregon.com by Leslie Carlson)
Dear America,
Welcome back.
For the last little while, and please don’t take this the wrong way, you have not seemed like your old self.
We don’t blame you for this. A lot of trauma victims suffer for a long time after the physical scars heal. A lot of trauma victims lash out at anyone around, act paranoid, fall into a selfish streak, feel tired, desolate and generally act in ways which ultimately hurt themselves as much as everyone around them. It’s called depression and it sucks.
If anything, we sort of blame ourselves to a small extent. We, your friends, tried to be there for you. However as time wore on, we got wrapped up in our own issues, and frankly, just go tired of your lousy attitude. Sometimes we wished hopefully that you would snap out of it and that you would return to your old optimistic and thoughtful self. We missed you. We liked your company and really needed you. The way you use to be able to rally everyone to a good cause, when no one else could, made the world a better place. Sometimes we talked hopefully with you. We reminded you of all the past problems you had successfully overcome. We told you that like anyone else who suffers a trauma, there would inevitably be dark days, but that inevitably you would find a way to shake them off. Sometimes during your recovery over the last seven years we were not great friends. We made bad jokes about you and started talking about your decline. Some of us even managed to convince you that things were worse than they really are or ever were.
Tonight though, we saw your old self, the America that knows how to dream and help others to dream also. We saw the America that is not afraid and does not see everyone who is different as a threat.
We see our old friend again. We see how much progress you have made in your recovery. We want to congratulate you and acknowledge your successful struggles against the depression that followed your trauma, and your successful struggles against all the inner demons you inherited.
You ought to be proud of what you have done and hopeful about all the accomplishments you are going to achieve tomorrow.
