Almost a decade ago, we stood at the crossroads of the 21st century. We were given the choice between the second-in-command to an adulterer and a man labeling himself a “compassionate conservative.” Through the hardships associated with scandal, we chose the latter, wondering whether or not we would be satisfied.But we were not satisfied.We were not satisfied by the lack of eloquence, as new words like “misunderestimated,” “nucular,” and “Hispanically” forced their way into our lexicon. We were not satisfied by the newest of these terms, “bushism,” defined as any statement uttered by a president with a less-than-exemplary command of the English language.We were not satisfied when tax cuts to the wealthiest of Americans were delivered with the ease of hush money from the mob.We were not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until someone holds those continuing to subvert our Constitution accountable for their actions.With every fault, every screw-up, every assertion of righteousness, the fear of the unknown swept our collective consciousness, culminating in an attack on our homeland.The 9/11 attacks served as a wake-up call to the realities of 21st century planet Earth.The fact of the matter made itself heard, loud and clear.America is not No. 1. America is merely one of hundreds of countries worldwide.America, however, wasn’t ready to throw down its guns and figure out pathways through the complexities of its new world. We weren’t ready to throw down our grudges and speak honestly about solutions to the new problems of our world.We were merely ready to throw down with our world.Combining our unrelenting rage with the administration’s unrelenting accusations about Iraq — with a pinch of journalistic ineptitude — Americans heard exactly what they needed to hear.And by April 2003, we were a nation at war.Consumed with the worst of ourselves, confident not in the arsenal of our virtues but in the virtue of our arsenal, we anxiously awaited the fruits of our military spending — financed with our taxes — exploding through the lenses of high definition in real time.As the great Dr. King turned over in his grave, we ceased to “conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline,” but in the mud and the muck of our inner demons.We had a nightmare.It was a nightmare engrained within the fabric of our collective being, forged together by the slings and arrows of those who would deny other human beings their basic civil liberties.It was a nightmare stretching as far as the Middle East, permanently scarring our vision for democracy, our love of freedom and the value of our fellow man.If the nighttime is darkest before the day, the past eight years were the epicenter of a black hole.But the dawn is coming.The dawn of a new America will feature the birth of a new accountability, where our leaders will not be selected by the content of their last names but by the color of their imaginations and the strength of their moral fiber.America will stress the virtues of reason, temperance and moderation, not the previously held convictions inspired by a generation of yes men.America will reassert those basic claims of the value of mankind, however tired or vibrant, however patriotic or dissenting.America will learn the true definition of patriotism — the marriage of equal parts praise and criticism, joining a shared sense of responsibility to our fellow brothers and sisters.All of us, with the same hearts, lungs, kidneys and minds will embrace this new America, where being “proud to be American” falls flat in the test of honor.We must be proud to be alive. We must be proud to be here, on this Earth we all occupy.We must be proud to be human beings.We have seen the disasters of our new world, from prisoner abuse to the politicization of an entire government department, from the evils of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay to the live, worldwide broadcast of an entire city’s drowning.We have also seen our hailed free market philosophies make way for insatiable greed and unregulated self-indulgence, as the country shudders at today’s outlook had our president successfully privatized Social Security.But the dawn is coming.The dawn will feature a new interest in technology and science, discovery and patience, confidence and possibility.The dawn will only come when we all wake up to it. When the nightmare fades into memory, our minds will clear the waste, leaving only the possibility to imagine what can be.Dream at last! Dream at last! Thank whomever you want, we can dream at last!- – – -Contact Eric Freeman at [email protected]