Figure 1. Still from Rocky (1976) as reproduced in Philly Magazine, 26 April 2014
I grew up in your world, on the other side of the Atlantic.
A mythical universe of stars and stripes.
I absorbed you through flickering screens,
through music, art, and literature.
You taught me about grit, striving, ambition.
About pulling myself up by the bootstraps.
About the strength and liberty of the individual and the pursuit of happiness.
You taught me to stand up for myself and others.
You were far away,
yet so close.
I was just a child,
impersonating American movie heroes,
feeling I could win the future,
feeling I could pluck the stars
from the night sky.
Though, I was just a child.
Unaware of carpet bombing and
regime changes.
Unaware of internment camps and
racial segregation.
Unaware of immature ideas of liberty,
of hypocrisy and greed and
of snakes in your garden.
“There was once a dream that was [America]. You could only whisper it. Anything more than a whisper and it would vanish, it was so fragile.”
Your shortcomings are vast and consequential.
Though in all fairness, dare I say, not unique.
The ideals you gave birth to, however inadequately realized, however misused and perverted by soulless men, represent and aim to bring out
the better angels of our nature.
Your ideals issued a new world,
of revolutionary courage and hope.
Of resistance and an untamed
will of the people.
You became the North Star,
shining a light on what is possible,
when we are united and guided by virtue.