Hey America, Time to Graduate from the Teen Drama
Now‘s the moment for a Grown-Up America to Emerge
Picture America as that particular teenager in your life. The one who’s self-absorbed, quick to anger, convinced they know everything. And allergic to ever admitting they’re wrong.
While other nations are steadily adulting their way through global challenges, the United States is throwing perpetual adolescent tantrums.
We’re the teenager glued to TikTok while the mess piles up. The difference? Our mess is an entire nation.
Bogged Down in a Long-Drawn-Out Adolescence
It’s a fact: the world is evolving rapidly. But Americans are stuck in an evolutionary snail mode, moving at a painfully slow rate compared to the rest of the world.
America is going through an extended adolescence. We’re impatient, self-centered, and often fixated on what amounts to “foolishness and nonsense.”
While other nations grapple with the grown-up business of unity and collective progress, we remain besotted with celebrity culture and who’s feuding with whom on X.
We’re so caught up in the drama that we’ve even put a celebrity in the White House — twice!
Who gives a darn about substance, character, and actual suitability for the job?
Many Americans love it when the candidate talks tough and has the talent for successfully demonizing the other party.
We don’t vet candidates here; we want tough talk and showmanship.
The Myth of Post-WWII America
Part of our nation’s arrested development stems from the myth America created for itself after WWII. It’s the one about us being the hero of the free world, larger than life, invincible, and morally infallible.
Sound familiar? It’s pure John Wayne on the silver screen. It’s a celluloid fantasy we’ve taken as gospel truth.
But real life in post-war America was more complicated. Marked by deep racial divides, economic inequality, and systemic injustices.
And, I’m telling you, not all those Rosie the Riveter gals who ably worked through the war were happy about being sent back home. Some of them grew deeply troubled about being housebound, apron-clad housewives. That’s another celluloid myth.
The truth is, during wartime, America’s greatest strength came from collaboration, not swagger. Our soldiers weren’t lone rangers but team players who understood that saving the world required working together.
Remember, we had allies.
But we’ve clung to that lone warrior myth like a security blanket, whether in foreign policy, economic strategy, or how we handle crises like healthcare.
Signs of Juvenility in Modern America
Today, America’s immaturity is on full display.
We are polarized, impatient, and paranoid. Quick to argue, slow to listen, and more interested in scoring points on social media than finding common ground.
The 24-hour news cycle amplifies every spat into a crisis, and we eat it up like teenagers binging drama shows.
Meanwhile, we avoid the real work of running a country, much like a teenager avoiding their homework.
Our Unhealthy Celebrity Obsession
We have an unhealthy, juvenile obsession with celebrity culture.
Fame and wealth have become national ideals. Substance, character, and job suitability — what are they?
That’s America. We’re so blinded by the glitz that we can’t see the use for long-term thinking or collective effort.
Our Resistance to Accountability
Instead of learning from our mistakes, we whine, wheedle, and wuss out of taking responsibility.
We’re like that teen who insists they totally meant to put the car in reverse, and the damn dirty mailbox jumped out of nowhere.
The First Step to Adulting
How can America grow up?
We begin by establishing a sense of unity and collective responsibility.
Shifting from “What’s best for me?” to “What’s best for us?”
National Well-Being Requires Patience and Humility
Take healthcare, for example. Other nations have made the mature choice to ensure everyone’s health while building a stronger workforce. They understand that healthy citizens create a more productive society.
Meanwhile, we’re still having teenage-style meltdowns over whether healthcare is a right or a privilege.
We’re paying sky-high prices for healthcare, yet our outcomes are getting worse.
We’ve got to set our selfishness aside and find shared values. There are many things the right and left can agree on, like fairness and opportunity.
We all want our kids to inherit a healthy, well-functioning country.
However, achieving these goals requires something teenagers aren’t known for: patience and humility.
It also requires two things even older folks are sparse on today: truth and honesty.
Compromise Is Not a Dirty Word
Lord knows we’ll never completely see eye to eye. And we don’t have to.
Consensus is not a dirty word. Compromise has its place in the world of adulting.
It’s about handling our differences like grown-ups instead of kids in a playground fight.
It’s about creating an American culture that values working together over winning at all costs. Even if that means admitting — gasp! — we might not know everything
America, Just Grow Up
Adulthood ain’t easy by no stretch of the imagination. But it’s time for America to step into its big-kid pants, leaving behind the selfishness, angst, and drama of youth.
Only then can we become the nation our founders dreamed of. A nation that combines youthful energy with the wisdom to know when to put down the freakin’ phone, move away from the screens and actually talk to each other.
The question of American maturity isn’t just some fancy academic debate. It’s a real problem. It’s personal, and it affects each one of us.
Our combined future depends on our ability to grow up at long last.
The conversation about America’s future begins with honestly acknowledging where we are now, even if that acknowledgment comes with a hefty side of nationwide, cringe-worthy self-examination.
But acknowledging our flaws isn’t a weakness. It’s the first step toward real growth.
Strength lies in admitting mistakes, learning from them, and charting a better course for the future.
We don’t need celluloid heroes. We need real leaders who are unafraid to speak the truth and guide us toward something better.
I’ll optimistically keep my eyes peeled for those leaders. We need them to emerge ASAP. You keep your eyes peeled as well, okay?
Growing up isn’t easy, but America has faced hard truths before.
Without a doubt, we can do it again.
