What really makes us wealthy?

I most often use this spot to rail against what I think is wrong about our nation, or more specifically our politicians. As we approach Thanksgiving, I want to take a different tack. I am very thankful that I am a citizen of this great nation, and in spite of our current fiscal mess, I think we should all be proud.

A few years ago I was having lunch with a business associate from Japan who had been living here for a number of years. He had just learned that he was to move back shortly to his native Japan. I asked him what he would miss most about the United States. I had pressumed that I knew the answer already. I had worked with Japanese associates for many years, and they often speak of our big home and wide open spaces. These are indeed unheard of in Japan. Without a moments hesitation he responded that it was our ability to change ourselves as a nation. I was taken aback and somewhat confused by his answer, and I asked him to elaborate.

He told me that what he admired most was our ability to look at our collective condition and decide that we needed to change. I was still a little confused so I asked him to elaborate further. He cited two examples of this unique ability. The first was smoking. He said that while we had been a nation of smokers, we realized that smoking was bad and were changing our collective behavior to correct this problem. The second example was the issue of race. He explained to me that we had recognised that we had a problem with race in our country and had addressed it head on.

He was not deceived into believing that we had fully corrected either problem, but he was in awe of the fact that we were facing both as a country and trying to correct our mistakes.

That discussion over lunch had a profound effect on me, and forever changed the way I look at my country.

We are facing some very difficult times. Our nation has seen hugh wealth evaporate, trillion of dollars lost out of our economy. Yet our wealth is not what makes our country great. I think it is our collective soul that sets us apart. It is our willingness to send young men and women into harms way to defend freedom in the world. It is our willingness to open our pocket books to the needs of others anywhere in the world. It is our desire to address societies wrongs and make them right.

We will overcome this difficult period, we will learn from it and we will move forward. Maybe this jolt to our collective psyche will cause to reflect on what is truly important. It is not what we have, it is who we are!

We have much to be thankful for, and I am.