People in my generation love to complain, shoulder national sins for which they bear no responsibility, and emphasize America's evils more than her strengths. Repeatedly bantered around are claims of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and white privilege. America is not perfect, except when compared to the rest of the world. Maybe that explains why hoards of immigrants legal and illegal come to this nation year after year. Maybe that explains why the American flag is a symbol of freedom around the world. Maybe that explains why no nation has been so influential, loved, and envied. Maybe that's why the rest of the world hates us. And maybe it's why people in my generation love to hate America.

No one likes to pat himself on the back in front of anyone else, and maybe this humility explains why many in my generation are so quick to qualify any assessment of this nation in comparison to others.

It often goes something like this. "America is good, but in Canada healthcare is free." Yeah, but we have more MRI machines in Philly than in all of Canada, and you have to wait weeks or months to see a doctor.

Or, "America is good but Europeans have a better sense of community." Yeah, and that community is being swallowed by a welfare entitlement mentality that refuses to work and modernize, and by a wave of Muslim immigration that mocks European culture, law, and civilization.

Or, "America is good but we fight too many wars.' Yeah, but people the world over live in freedom thanks to our fighting and fighting has ended Nazism, Communism, Imperialism, slavery, and genocide.

Or, "America is good but we're so consumer-oriented." Yes, and thanks to that consumer oriented spirit, we have access to more products at lower prices in never-ending abundance; workers the world over live better because we buy what they make; and our consumerism fuels a market economy that employs the highest population percentage of any nation in the history of the world. Fast food may be bad for you, but it surely isn't bad for the illiterate immigrant recently come who makes $7/hour here instead of $0/hr in his homeland.

I think it's time people in my generation took a big gulp of gratitude for living in such peaceful, prosperous, and carefree times. Never before in human history has been so little required of the next generation as is required of mine.

Our grandparents' generation saved the world from the greatest evils the world has ever known, and then passed it on to our parents generation. I hope we will be able to say that we made the most of the America bequeathed us by our grandparents and parents. But as of right now, I think we have quite a bit of work to do.

We are the generation of Paris Hilton, MTV, Myspace, and college degrees ending in "studies." I guess it's better than some in our parent's generation, who offered acid tripping, free love, Woodstock, Vietnam, and Roe v. Wade as their contribution.

Unless and until my generation starts appreciating the nation which we call home for the reasons that make us great, not the reasons that make us happy or the reasons that leave us entertained, I fear ours' will be a generation that missed its opportunity to be great because we were too busy being entertained.