A while back an acquaintance wrote me that he didn’t believe that America was an exceptional country. I was shocked to hear an adult that grew up in the US make that statement. It immediately reminded me of a few students I’d had through the years. These students refused to understand that their parents were exceptional. Their parents had worked hard to give their children a better life, had made sacrifices, found ways to better themselves and to be better providers. But the parents were not perfect and maybe that was the problem of the students. The students had expected perfection.

America wasn’t the first exceptional nation. Throughout history there have been several, and it is an insult to not recognize that these great nations contributed so much to civilization. Possibly my acquaintance doesn’t understand that it’s not specifically governments that make a country exceptional. It’s the people that make a country exceptional. A government has to provide an atmosphere that makes it possible for its citizens to dream and experiment. America has done that very thing. From the beginning Americans used the fertile intellectual environment to grow and create. Our mistakes distract from our greatness but they do not distract from our being an exceptional nation. There’s a difference. If a family with five siblings of modest means produces a surgeon, a mathematician, and an educator, the fact that the two remaining siblings wasted their lives does not distract from the exceptionalism of the other three.

Perhaps it’s because I’ve resided in a country that doesn’t provide the same foundation for exceptionalism as America that our exceptionalism stands out so much to me. There certainly are many exceptional Mexicans. Their ideas and contributions are changing their country. But their numbers pale compared to the United States.

I’ve wondered if my acquaintance is aware of the exceptional nature of our Constitution, a long standing document that changed the lives of those living in the US and eventually had its effect on the entire world. Again the faults of our founding fathers might distract from their greatness but does not erase their exceptionalism.

Unfortunately the mindset of my acquaintance is all too prevalent in America today. Many children are poisoned by the rhetoric that success in the US has become unattainable for many especially for minorities. The results of that message have been catastrophic. Should we be surprised that we have an abundance of our population taking what they believe should be rightly theirs.

I am proud to have come from an exceptional nation. I marvel at the accomplishments of many of my fellow Americans. My children now have the opportunity to become exceptional. Whatever they endeavor to do; it’s my wish they strive to be their best.

As Memorial Day approaches I give thanks to our leaders both past and present. I also give thanks to those who unselfishly served and gave their lives in the military even when our goals were confusing. American exceptionalism both in and out of the military are directly tied to the greatness of the United States. Celebrating exceptionalism isn’t ethnocentric and excuses don’t have to be made where exceptionalism exists.