It's 2009. The economy has gone to hell. Americans pride themselves in driving a VW or Prius or BMW. Not the all-American Ford or Chevy. We spend our vacations in Venice or Barcelona or Paris. We romanticize and idolize Europe and exotic islands. Not our own country, which offers history, wooded forests, rugged mountains, rolling plains, and the like. Americana is dead.
And then, thanks to a popular TV show, Britain's Got Talent, we hold up and glorify the overlooked, the unexotic, the neglected, and the ugly in making a shining star of the talented singer, Susan Boyle. Although she is from across the pond, we Americans celebrate this woman and her willingness to get out there, show her stuff, and triumph when all of the odds were against her. Susan Boyle. Hope for the dejected.
I love the purple mountains majesty - a lot. But count me happy that we're choosing to re-join the world. For Americans, globalization often focuses on what we can export (consumer culture, war), but it can also be about awakening ourselves to others.
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