Romanticize: to think about or describe something as being better or more attractive or interesting than it really is (1)
I recognize what it means to romanticize something. We do it all of the time. We romanticize our past, forgetting about all of the struggles that we endured to get where we are today. We look at the high points and think to ourselves, "Wow, remember how easy it was then."Let me give you a real-life example. I recently switched jobs. I'm struggling to get my brain wrapped around all of the new information that this new position entails. I'm having a difficult time getting settled in as the new gal. Everyone else has worked here together for quite some time and they all seem to know one another and I feel like the outsider.
My brain thinks back to my previous job and I remember how I had a lot of friends there and I enjoyed my work and admittedly, I was pretty good at it. I start to miss that job and I wonder, why did I leave? But then by chance at a meeting, I run in to my old boss. While she wasn't a tyrant, she wasn't exactly sane either. She wanted her tentacles on every thing and she'd throw a fit if she was somehow not part of something she felt she was entitled to be. She would talk about her colleagues and higher-ups to her subordinates (i.e. me) in a way that was completely unprofessional and she caused a lot of drama. A lot of drama. Seeing her made me realize that I wasn't really all that happy at my old job, which is why I decided to look elsewhere. And if I think hard about it, I didn't walk right into that job knowing exactly what to do either. I struggled to learn all of the nuances and it took me a good year before something clicked in my brain and I said, "Oh! I get it!" I also didn't walk in to that job as fast friends with everyone around me. It took awhile to get to know others. I was there 6.5 years. That's a lot of time to get acquainted.
A commonly heard phrase is, "romanticize the past." I think that is what is happening with this whole "Make America Great Again" business. Because I do not believe all conservatives are pig-sucking racists (yes, I know there are plenty out there!) who legitimately want to go back to the 1950's, I'm guessing people have put on their rose-colored glasses. They've donned their "remember when things were simpler" hats. Yes, things were simpler when people didn't (or weren't allowed) to speak up and speak out. (Don't think they weren't doing it behind closed doors--how do you think revolutions get started?). While everyone meekly bit their tongues and people catered to the idea of niceness and politeness, others were being treated unfairly and inequitably.
Great: notable; remarkable; exceptionally outstanding (2)
If women were not allowed the same opportunities as men, things weren't "great." If African Americans were segregated, abused, murdered because of the color of their skin, things weren't "great." If only white men were allowed to have control and people of color were relegated to lower paying jobs, things weren't "great."Fast forward 60 some years and look around. Things aren't great now, but that's because they weren't great in the past and we never fixed them. I understand that we don't all agree on politics, but these are basic rights that all men and women regardless of color, creed, gender, sexual orientation should have--the right to be treated equally, the right to have an even playing field and opportunities, the right to have their voices heard and their humanity respected. We don't have to like everyone, but our job as human beings is to take care of each other. That is our duty. So when there is this talk of making America great "again" I wonder, when was it great? Of course there have been many moments of greatness, but if it wasn't "great" for everyone involved it wasn't "great." If it isn't fair for ALL it is fair for NONE. Remember:
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."--The Declaration of Independence
*Ellen Wheeler Wilcox
1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/romanticize
2. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/great
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