As we move into summer, the United States will be celebrating its 246th birthday. If you could give one birthday present to the USA, what would it be? If you could give one birthday warning to the USA, what would it be?
Full Citation for this Article: Editorial Board, SquareTwo Journal (2022) "Reader's Puzzle for Spring 2022," SquareTwo, Vol. 15 No. 1 (Spring 2022), http://squaretwo.org/Sq2ArticleReadersPuzzleSpring2022.html, accessed <give access date>.
Would you like to comment on this article? Thoughtful, faithful comments of at least 100 words are welcome.
I. Rachel Zirkle
If I could, I would love to gift the USA some new, functioning political parties for its birthday. Parties that were more inclusive, with less tendency towards the extremes; ones that could cooperate and compromise without feeling like entire identity was at stake.
On a more practical level, I would gift the USA some grace. The past few years have been tumultuous with the pandemic and toxic politics. It seems that many are disaffected and disappointed--media commentary makes it feel like new lows are routinely being reached. History would show, however, that America has been through and overcome a lot in the past. I would guess this is in part because as Americans we've chosen not to give up on what America has the potential to be. To maintain this outlook when current events are dark, I believe we need to show the USA--our fellow Americans--more grace, which is why it would be my gift of choice this year.
_______________________________________________________________________II. Ashley Alley
I would give the United States a metaphorical day at the spa as a birthday present…I think our poor country needs a deep tissue massage to work out some of this tension and stress :/
_______________________________________________________________________III. Michelle Brignone
My gift would be charity for ourselves and for others, which is the pure love of Christ, which is love plus sacrifice. My warning would be, Zion will only be created if we choose discipleship over political party and our own selfish endeavors.
_______________________________________________________________________IV. Valerie Hudson
My gift to the United States would be a functioning centrist movement. Most Americans are finding themselves politically homeless because our two parties have moved ever more to the extremes. There is so much more consensus on issues such as abortion among the general population than you will ever see in the statehouses of our various states. This is undemocratic. I wish we had billionaires who pumped their money into a centrist movement, rather than the extreme left or extreme right.
_______________________________________________________________________