"The world is perfect. It’s a mess. It has always been a mess. We are not going to change it. Our job is to straighten out our own lives."

SK posted this evening about her emotional fullness caused by both the success of the Egyptian protesters today and about her pending iPhone delivery.  I, too, sometimes try to reconcile what seems like any number of distinctly different or incongruous sets of feelings. 

But I realized at that moment that it's this diversity of feeling that is perhaps one of our greatest privileges in being Americans.  We have the freedom and luxury of being excited about the lovely and the trivial; we also have access to a vast supply of information about the world and the people around us, and the freedom to express appreciation or sympathy for the more serious matters that face humanity(be they existential, philosophical, physical).  I love freedom as much as I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.  I hate war as much as I hate Nickelback and the sound of Sarah Palin's voice.  And it's my fucking right as an American- actually, as a human- to do so.  Our country just happens to be one of those where it's technically allowed and our standard of living generally supports it.

America.  Fuck yeah.

But seriously, while things might be getting pretty fucked up in a lot of ways, I'd like to think, perhaps naively, that we've still got a pretty good thing going at the heart of it.  So let's try to make it better, right???!!!  (How, you ask?... Ok, look guys, I know you're hanging on my every word and all, but I only have time for so much expounding and solving of our nation's problems... That said, first step toward betterment: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Also, refer to title of post [Joseph Campbell quote].  Maybe it's not that simple, but maybe it is...?*)