GOLD, SAUSAGES, AND THE PERVERSITY OF PRIVILEGE

By Steven J. Manning

I have had the extraordinary privilege of living in this remarkable country—the nation that welcomed my family as penniless, stateless immigrants.

Kindly note the attached photograph. The small American flag decal affixed to the corner of my windshield—and the identical decals that preceded it—has occupied every automobile I have ever owned, from the first to the one I drive today.

That small flag is not decoration. It is a declaration of gratitude, loyalty, memory, and obligation. It is a daily reminder of what this nation gave my family when we had nothing to offer but our willingness to work, contribute, and become Americans.

I do not display it casually, nor do I regard it sentimentally. That small emblem represents debts of gratitude I will defend without hesitation and convictions I will not surrender. Anyone inclined to disparage it should understand that they are not challenging a decal on a windshield. They are challenging principles, sacrifices, opportunities, and freedoms that I hold sacred. And I will absolutely defend.

As a child, I heard whispers of the great America. The dream destination for nearly everyone around the world. The place where the streets were paved with gold and the fences were made of sausages.

When our destitute but profoundly grateful feet finally touched the soil of the United States of America, we discovered on the very first day that reality differed considerably from the mythology. There is nothing quite like living in a two-dollar-a-night hooker motel in downtown Los Angeles—courtesy of a relief agency—to revise one’s assumptions.

But…

I spend much time speaking and writing about success. A perennial question I am asked is this:

Is America the land of opportunity? Was it ever? Is it still?

My answer, to this day, remains an emphatic YES.

With an equally emphatic qualification.

There is no place on earth where you are afforded a greater opportunity to succeed. Nor one where you will work harder to get there.

That is my opinion. More accurately, it is a conclusion earned through experience, observation, and time.

Finally, I remain genuinely angered by what I call The Perversity of Privilege.

I am acutely aware that billions around the world, given the opportunity, would come to this country immediately—with little more than the clothes on their backs and hope in their hearts.

Then there are the privileged American misanthropes who wear the privilege of citizenship as if it were an entitlement rather than an inheritance requiring stewardship. They exploit that privilege by spewing contempt for the very country that affords it. By laboring to discredit it. Even to diminish it.

There is another path.

Count yourself among those who choose to applaud what is worthy, criticize what requires correction, and improve what can be improved through useful deeds rather than corrosive grievance.

Patriotism is not blind worship.

It is gratitude put to work.

It is gratitude joined to responsibility.

It is appreciation expressed through contribution.

So there.

A thought or two on our anniversary.