It’s about striving to be better than everybody else.
04 May 2011I said you need to strive to be better than everyone else. I didn’t say you needed to be better than everyone else. But you gotta try. That’s what character is. It’s in the trying.
Coach Eric Taylor
The most recent episode of Friday Night Lights had a great scene between Coach Eric Taylor and his quarterback, Vince Howard. (I've embedded the clip below for you to see for yourself.) In it, Coach explains to Vince about what character is. It's not necessarily about being better than everyone else. It's about trying to be better than everyone else.
And, that, in a nutshell summarizes my complete and utter disappointment with the American people.
The news of Osama bin Laden's death on Sunday night was an amazing moment in American history (and possibly in world history). Here was this man who—without any doubt—is one of most evil people to have set foot on earth. He was directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans, and thousands more people around the world. He was a scourge on the Earth and I am glad he is dead.
His death was cathartic. It was closure for the wounds that were opened ten years ago.
And, for just a moment, it looked like we, as an American people, might be able to move on from this chapter in our history. President Obama's address that night was measured, and of the right tenor. It did not glorify this death. It was perfunctory. He was a danger to the US, he was a mass murderer, and we did what we needed to do.
Character. President Obama seems to have it.
The rest of the American people? The American media? Not so much.
The vision that we, as Americans, shared with the world upon this momentous occasion should have been one of relief, maybe satisfaction that a mass murderer had been brought to justice. And then we should have reflected on the events of ten years ago, and attempted to exude the same quiet dignity that the President exemplified.
It’s about the character. It’s about striving to be better than everybody else.
Instead, what did we see? A bunch of drunken, spoiled, asshole college students celebrating like their team had made the Final Four. It wasn't about the moment: it was about being on TV. Maybe being the person to get interviewed on CNN. An excuse to get drunk in the middle of finals.
America, it seems, is full of douchebags.
Why were they celebrating?
Are we safer as a country? Marginally, maybe. But not in a meaningful way.
Were they dramatically impacted by 9/11? Possibly, but probably not any more so than the rest of us (and since most of them were probably in middle school, many probably less so).
Was it an outburst of good old fashioned patriotism? Maybe.
Most likely, they're just enormous fucking douchebags who thought it was cool to go get on TV, throw huge riotous parties, and make the rest of us look bad.
You might be asking, why do you care? Well, I only care inasmuch that I think this reflects horrendously on all of us, as Americans. We claim moral superiority. As a country, we lost our shit when we saw the video of unnamed Middle Eastern citizens celebrating 9/11 or Mogadishu (even if the footage was out-of-context). How dare they celebrate the deaths of Americans like that?
America, it seems, is full of douchebags and hypocrites.
I'll reiterate: I am glad we killed Osama bin Laden.
But, as Americans, we should strive to be better. We should strive to be the world leader that we are. We can be happy that bin Laden was killed, but we shouldn't rejoice in it. It does not "fix" terrorism. It very likely makes us, in the short-term, less secure. It is a cathartic and fitting end to a murderer.
But we should not relish or celebrate a death. As Coach Taylor eloquently pointed out, we should have character. We should strive to be better than everybody else. We don't have to be better, but we have to try.
And, sadly, it just doesn't feel like people care to try.