If I could choose any day, any era, to be born, it would be now.
Never before have the prospects been so good to live life with “liberty and justice for all.”
As a country we continue to break down barriers that discriminate against minorities, gays and women. Step by step we are dissolving negative stereotypes that handicap these segments of society.
By reversing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” military policy in 2010, we’ve recognized that gays should be able to serve in the military. And the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling gives same-sex couples the same rights and protections of heterosexuals to marry.
We’ve changed our laws to prohibit discrimination against the chronically ill in terms of having equal access to health insurance. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, no longer can they be denied coverage or face higher rates just because they have diabetes, or cancer, or any of a number of debilitating conditions.
We broke a huge barrier by electing our first African-American president in Barack Obama. While some say the election of President Donald Trump — a veritable stereotype of an old, white man — is in retribution to Obama’s legacy, you still can’t take away the fact that Obama was elected, twice.
As a woman, I appreciate that as president, Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to combat pay discrimination against women.
While women still earn less than men, this Act gives women a better chance of seeking legal recourse for fair pay.
With the media highlights of this year’s notable passings, I’m reminded of Mary Tyler Moore, 1936-2017. Many, men and women, saw her as a role model for working women in how she was adept at fielding backhanded remarks with such aplomb. That was a script, Moore reminded us, and being a woman in Hollywood was no skip in the park. The #metoo movement of sexual abuse has brought that harsh reality to light.
For minorities, it’s harder to find the silver lining.
Overwhelming, minorities are underrepresented in the fields of academia, science and research, law, business, technology, medicine and education.
As evidenced by protests earlier this year in Charlottesville, Va., and Shelbyville, Tenn., racists are feeling emboldened to publicly display their hate in certain segments of the country.
That some view minorities as threats to their way of life — and not what they can bring to the table — is telling.
When I was young, we were instructed that the United States was a “melting pot” that welcomed one and all to — wait for it — assimilate.
Which begs the question, of course, into what? Some Anglo-Saxon’s vision of what America — and Americans — should look like?
I’ve since learned — thanks to my children — the better, and more generous, metaphor for the United States is that we are a salad bowl where our myriad heritages and cultures mix together.
Generation by generation we are becoming a more accepting country.
And that gives me the confidence our children of today are equipped to lead us down a path of peace, prosperity and love.
Why today is the best day to be born
