Yesterday, today, and tomorrow

   For the past 250 years the United States has worked diligently to make this country a better place. Multiple wars and many treaties set the land of America free. Things have changed from the Treaty of Paris to the Affordable Care Act. Their have been rights given to the citizens of the country and rights taken away. So, what are the differences between 1776 and 2013? We have lost most of our compassion to competition. 

   Competition, to a certain extent, was considered a mental illness in 1776. People in this era based the success of their community by compassion. This means teamwork, loyalty, love, and empathy. With compassion, America overcame a barrier that many thought was unattainable by a country with that small of a budget and small of a population. They defeated the British and became a free country. America did this together. They did it by believing in each other. Little did they know that the mindset of unity and teamwork would soon collapse on itself. 

    The Civil War was an apparent sign that compassion in the states began to diminish. Racist citizens did not just think they were better than the other races in the country, but they believed that they were in fact better. This then caused inhumane acts to occur. Slavery and the Trail of Tears are great examples of these morally wrong acts. It took these significant events to happen for us to realize that maybe something wasn't right with what we were doing. All of these actions are due to being competitive with other world leaders. Slavery is free employment and Indians were just in the way. America took advantage of what they were given and it backfired, causing the Civil War. Killing over 1,100,000 children, women, and men. 

   Today in the United States the same thing is basically taking place. The mindset of competition is bread into us from the day we are born. We strive to win the spelling bee in 2nd grade, we attempt to get first place in the 6th grade science fair, we try to get the best looking girl in class because she the best looking, we overwork our bodies to be more athletic than our peers, we lie in interviews to obtain a higher position in the company, and we think this is okay. The reason we think it is okay is because we are told it is from our parents, coaches, teachers, and even our political leaders. As competition increases, compassion decreases. Signs that the worlds compassion is at an all time low are school shootings. Another is Syria murdering their own civilians using chemical weapons. Finally, America's government shutdown. The competitiveness and stubbornness of the politicians of today are ruining the future of tomorrow. 

   

   Should it take an obscene event to take place for us to realize the significance of the damage we do to others? Why do we not just have compassion for one another? What does the future of my generation look like? It could go in a number of different ways. We could have an awakening, which has happened many times in history for example, the Renaissance. Another example would be breaking the color barrier. We could change the United States and ultimately the world if we just have compassion for one another. It all depends on if people will wake from this competitive state, and realize that compassion is the key to a successful community.