Living in An Adolescent Country

Compared to other countries, America is very young, only 222 years old, if you count from 1788 when the Constitution was finally ratified and took effect. Declaring independence, as we did in 1776, didn't make us a country, just a fetus in the womb of the world.

We are in fact an adolescent country. So, what are the characteristics of an adolescent? By definition, adolescents are not mature. They lack a sense of adult responsibility. They have trouble thinking for themselves, although they rebel against authority and think they know what they want and who they are. They often lack compassion because they think only of themselves and their immediate needs and desires. But most of all they lack judgment.

An adolescent lacks what Carl Jung termed individuation, a term describing the process through which an individual progresses toward maturity. In the process the individual integrates early growth and development into a coherent selfhood, becoming someone recognized as mature by virtue of acquiring responsibility, purpose, compassion, judgment, confidence, and self-mastery.

America lacks these mature qualities. We have moments, of course, rising to meet crises and behaving with heroic self-sacrifice, reaching out beyond our shores to help others, to meet threats and bring peace and order to the world community of nations. And we rightly treasure these moments: entering World War I to bring an end to the carnage and destruction. We rose again in World War II to bring an end to the evil of the Third Reich and to avenge the attack against our sovereignty at Pearl Harbor. But such heroics do not make us mature, witness the misadventure in Vietnam and now our two lingering wars.

We did not react with maturity to the direct attack on our shores on September 11, 2001. Like a wounded animal we responded with an overwhelming force possessed by no other country on earth, and the subsequent invasion of Iraq displayed a stunning lack of maturity and judgment. And now, we find ourselves fighting wars that have no viable end in sight.

But the strongest evidence of our adolescence is the tenor of our present political life, which displays a shameful immaturity on every level, from the halls of Congress to political gatherings. A mature country would not tolerate the level of discourse we find among those who profess to leadership and who claim to represent a political constituency. On every level political debate and dialog is a national embarrassment.

Obviously it is dangerous for adolescents to have power, to possess weapons and force enough to bring havoc and destruction to the lives of others. A mature individual possessing this level of force and power exhibits a thoughtful consideration of consequences, knowing that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In other words a mature individual knows the laws that govern nature (including human nature) and behaves accordingly.

What do we do? It is the task of every individual American to find maturity within himself and herself and to reject adolescence in national behavior whenever and wherever it arises. It is not useful to be amused by childish behavior or to condone immature actions by those who represent our local, national and global interests. On the other hand, where we see maturity we need to listen and find strength in it. It's out there to be found in all those who labor in the quiet patience of public service.

The rest of the world, both old and youthful countries, look to America for mature leadership simply because we possess the wealth and power to preserve or destroy the planet. It's time for the country to grow up and assume its proper place among the other mature nations. Here's a bumper sticker:

GROW UP AMERICA!