We have grown up and lived all of our lives in a society knowing and believing the U.S. is number one at EVERYTHING. When I was a kid I remember seeing an occasional foreign car on the road and laughing at such a strange site. A public school education was top notch where you towed the line or paid the price, both at school and at home. You knew if you worked hard your version of the "American Dream" would become reality. We were the most technologically advanced, most affluent, best democratic nation on earth that every other country wanted to emulate. We have fallen into a state of disrepair that may be insurmountable.

I do think the America of today is just a fragment of the country we once knew. Our place on the world stage will be diminished and we will no longer turn heads. But the memories of the positive environment that surrounded us as grew up will never let us lose hope.