Rev. Walt Hampton: More grief than celebration on our 250th celebration

I suppose it all depends on your perspective and mental/emotional state. Or perhaps your political leanings. You could be more balanced in your historical storytelling and be more optimistic about all the good this country has produced over the last 250 years. It’s really not that hard. The medical and technological advances alone should be enough to lift your spirits. The basic standard of living alone is the highest of any country our size.

But let us digress: This land was already inhabited by humans before we arrived. And, contrary to popular mythical narratives, conflict and displacement occurred here long before Europeans arrived, just as they have throughout human history worldwide. Indigenous societies were not the idyllic, peaceful environmentalists of popular myth. Tribes frequently warred against one another for resources, territory, and captives. Many practiced slavery, taking war prisoners as slaves, sometimes hereditary, with up to a quarter of the population enslaved in certain Pacific Northwest groups. In Mesoamerica, Aztecs and Maya waged wars for captives used in mass human sacrifice alongside slavery.

Yes, European arrival brought new tragedies and diseases amid existing rivalries. Yet America’s founding ideals of individual rights and equality under law were revolutionary. The nation inherited slavery but waged its bloodiest war to end it, passed constitutional amendments, dismantled Jim Crow, and advanced civil rights through its own institutions.

Native Americans today hold citizenship, tribal sovereignty, and cultural revival. Descendants of the enslaved have made remarkable gains in wealth, politics, and culture. Immigrants still come in search of opportunity. America’s economy, innovations, and freedoms have lifted living standards at home and globally.

Flaws and struggles remain real, but selective guilt ignores humanity’s universal patterns of conflict. What sets America apart is its proven capacity for self-correction, merit-based opportunity, and aspiration. Our imperfect union keeps striving toward a more perfect one, honoring the past by building a better future for individuals, not inherited grievances.

So, I’m not sure who you’ve been socializing with, but maybe get out more, take a hike with a friend, go to a backyard BBQ, see family or friends that you haven’t seen for awhile. In other words, get some fresh perspective. Things will never be perfect, but they certainly aren’t depressingly disastrous.

Don’t let yourself get sucked into the “Our Country is a terrible place” vortex.