It seems we are capable of immense love and loyalty, and as capable of deceit and atrocity. It's probably this shocking ambivalence that makes us unique.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Perhaps the thing that makes humans truly unique on Earth is that we are never satisfied with our situation; maybe that is what's taken us so far.
When I look at the world, I recognize that unfortunately, it sometimes takes an atrocity like 9/11 to force us to come together.
I think it's important that the rest of the world know that we're not all the same and that we don't all have the sort of arrogance it feels like they're perceiving from our leaders.
We are not actually equal - humanity - if we are not allowed to freely love one another.
We don't see ourselves as just a place where we come to worship but as a beacon and a bearer of the culture and a bearer of what makes us a people. But I like to say that this is not necessarily unique to us. It is really what America is all about.
Sometimes we are less unhappy in being deceived by those we love, than in being undeceived by them.
It's a tragedy, in a way, that Americans are brought up to think that they cannot feel for other people and other beings just because they are different. They think they're different. It's very limiting.
Here in America, we don't let our differences tear us apart. Not here. Because we know that our greatness comes from when we appreciate each other's strengths, when we learn from each other, when we lean on each other, because in this country, it's never been each person for themselves. No, we're all in this together. We always have been.
This is the very worst wickedness, that we refuse to acknowledge the passionate evil that is in us. This makes us secret and rotten.
We strain to tell Americans and aliens in this country that there's nothing unique about America, nothing unique about American civilization, nothing that requires their allegiance, nothing of great value that they should sacrifice for.