Has America passed its prime?

Photo by Flickr user “ctj71081” used under CC BY-SA 2.0)

Kendra Nixon, Content Editor

I drove a total of 24 hours over Spring Break, so it gave me plenty of time to think.

And while I will spare you with most of my wandering thoughts, an interesting one that came to mind was the idea that America has passed its prime. For so long, we have been America the Great, or Home of the Free, or Land of the Brave. But recently, I’ve felt we no longer impress.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love that I am an American and I am a fan of my country, but I do believe that we are on the decline.

One thing that made me think this was the plethora of great movies that just came out. I don’t think I need to go into too much detail on all the recent release, but if you want a recap, you can read Jason Hubbert and Jake O’Bannon’s Oscar predictions for a list of some of the latest and greatest.

Thinking about where these movies take place and their philosophical depth really triggered my epiphany. The following movies were nominated for best picture in the 2013 Oscar Awards.

Amour- a French-language drama, taking place in France, Germany and Austria.

Life of Pi- takes place in India and was adapted from a novel written by a Canadian.

Les Miserables- based on a French novel, filmed in the UK.

Django, Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln were also nominated and each take place in the U.S., but each movie is based on a great event that happened several years ago.

After looking at these films, it has made me realize that we haven’t done anything great and out of the ordinary for a while.

According to infoplease.com, the U.S. is the 9th fattest country. And according to a Huffington Post article, we are ranked 17th in education.

I believe that we are slowly on the decline to becoming an “average” country. I think it’s safe to say we are a military powerhouse and our political system is one of the most effective, but we lack in so many other areas. All great nations fall, and although I don’t think it will be in our lifetime, I think the U.S. has seen its glory years.

We are no longer the land of the free, but the land of the tolerant. But we have become tolerant to a fault. We no longer take the respect of others into account.

If a person believes in something, whether it be right or wrong, that person is right. And if you are against that person, then you are intolerant and offensive. It is almost as if we cannot have an opinion anymore, or else we will offend the people with a different opinion.

We were a country built on pride, freedom and morals. We were a nation under one God and religion was something most Americans were proud of.

Now religion has a negative connotation. We have drifted far, far away from having any sort of religious base, and we have become a sinful, fallen country like most of the world.

Most people give into temptations with no regard for anyone else. We have stopped looking out for those around us, and we don’t care what’s in our country’s best interest. We only care about what is best for us at the time being.

Whether this country can make a comeback or not, I’m not so sure. But at least while we are still around, I think we can make a positive impact. Even though it is difficult to change the country, it is possible to change our community.

Just because our world is fallen, doesn’t mean our world has to be. If each person made an attempt to improve the community around them, only then could we have a chance at changing our country.