Circles and Squares

The Blessed and Cursed United States

The United States was the best of nations; it was the worst of nations. Harvard’s halls were filled with wisdom; Corporate headquarters overflowed with greed.

It was a nation of faith; it was a nation of barbarism. It shined light forth to the world; it was wrapped deep in darkness.

America offer eternal hope; America’s cold shopping malls drove us to despair.

We had everything we could want; we had absolutely nothing.

We were sure we were doing Heaven’s will; we were all heading straight to hell.

In short, America was so contradictory, both attractive and repulsive, both pure and blasphemous, that its loudest authorities insisted on being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

Emanuel Pastreich

June 21, 2022