We're really not THAT big of a deal

Here in the good 'ol US of A we take ourselves pretty seriously. Maybe rightfully so, but maybe not. We are the most powerful country in the world and we have been for about a century. There is no doubt that that is impressive but is it reason enough for our egos to be as big as they are? I think not.

From the perspective of time, the US is, at this point, simply an experiment in governance. A lark that, considering the track record of past empires, is likely to someday be just a blip on the radar of history. That's a pretty bold statement but consider that the Roman Empire, which had a golden era of about 500 years and a total life span of over 1400 years, rarely gets more than a few weeks of attention in most world history courses in the US. With this in mind, where does that leave the US?

Well, I don't really know. I can't predict how history will view the US but I can say with confidence that the US is centuries, like five or six of them, away from beginning to compare to some of histories great empires. Is that the story that we are taught as kids? No, we are taught that we are the best that has ever been and will ever be. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, every country/empire needs propaganda to operate successfully, it's just that it makes it really hard for us to analyze the US today without having a heavily biased perspective. I am not trying to be anti-american I just think that it is important to take all the talk US supremacy with a big ass grain of salt.

I am not really sure why this is all coming out of me right now. I can only guess that it has something to do with the fact that, especially in these times of great historical import, it is vital to remember that, in terms of history, a human life is short and that appearances can be deceiving.

Now, to sum up, think for a moment that the US empire will eventually collapse, that the country will eventually break up, and that history will eventually forget us. For some reason these thoughts give me some comfort on an existential level and I hope they do for you, too.