'Great again' feels more like 'grate again'

I miss America. More accurately, I miss how I used to feel about being an American.

All the name-calling and divisive rhetoric simply wears me out. Rambling discourse laced with alternative facts disorients me and muddies the political landscape. The activities that are prioritized, like building walls and banning refugees, often embarrass me.

I was secure and contented with patriotism, that sense of pride in the values and ideals of our country. I am, however, troubled and often anxious with nationalism which takes the worldview of winners and losers and insists that America must always finish first.

I remember when I woke up in the morning and my thoughts initially centered on the weather and my plans for the day. Now I immediately wonder what my president did while I slept and what his next actions will be as the day unfolds. Is he poised to implement some new and questionable idea or plan in the name of safety or national wealth or even God?

"Great again" doesn't feel so great. It feels more like "grate again." Grate is defined as "to reduce something to small shreds" or "make an unpleasant rasping sound."

Bob Close

Geneva