This past August, I found myself in my grandmother’s closet with the intention of playing dress-up in her costume jewelry and scarves from the ‘80s (embarrassing, I know), when a worn out cardboard box on the top shelf caught my eye. Hoping it was full of dresses, I grabbed a ladder from her garage and hastily worked my way up to the top shelf. Once I pulled it off the ledge, I immediately realized the box was too heavy for dresses – maybe (hopefully) it contained shoes? I climbed down the ladder, set it on the floor, and peered inside. There, staring back at me, were pages upon pages of old letters, stacks of photographs, old high school yearbooks, and more. I carefully removed the large, beaded necklace I had donned and began reading. 

What I had stumbled upon were mostly letters of correspondence between by great-grandmother (Ruth) and her mother during the 1940s, but it also included my family genealogy – spanning back to the 1400s – photographs of my distant relatives taken between the 1820s and 1980s, and everyday items like my great-great-great aunt’s sketchbook from the late 19th century. I was immediately entranced and spent the next four hours carefully going through each item laid before me. 

An hour into my reading, I discovered a letter my great-grandmother’s father had written her in 1941. In it, he consoled Ruth, for she had just discovered that her husband had been drafted for World War II. While the totality of the letter was impactful, the final lines of the first page delt the biggest blow: “Our world is in a somber state at present. But we must not take these difficult times for granted. We are Americans. We must approach this steadfastly, with our heads held high as we always have.” 

Though this letter was composed in 1941, it is painfully obvious that his characterization of our world as “somber” holds true to the present day. However, it seems part of his message conflicts with the current dominant American attitude – while he spoke of American unity and patriotism, these two terms do not represent America today. While I must concede that my great-great grandfather was an extremely privileged white man and his notion of America as a completely unified front was no doubt warped, his musings prompted a question which I could not shake: In 2025, do we Americans have a responsibility to fight to better our country, or is it morally acceptable to surrender to complacency? As an American at an international school, I often feel troubled by this question. Across the ocean, I watch the Trump administration steal human beings off the streets, pull funding from organizations fighting climate change, challenge fundamental rights such as gay marriage, and I wonder if I should just stay in the United Kingdom while the mess sorts itself out. Somebody else will take care of it – it doesn’t have to be me, right? 

As I began to re-organize my grandmother’s box of history, I turned on my phone to check if my mom had called – however, the only notification I had was from the New York Times. It read: “Two dead and seventeen injured in shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis.”  

Two days later, my mom and I found ourselves walking up the slight hill to Annunciation, a fresh bouquet of flowers in hand. When we reached the school church, we were met with hundreds of flowers, stuffed animals, and pictures lining the entrance. After placing the flowers in a bucket of water provided by the volunteers, we stood back and stared at the mass of gifts.  

In the silence, two large crosses glared back at us.  

I have never been near death before – all of my extended family is alive, and I have been lucky enough to never experience a friend passing away. However, standing in front of those crosses, I felt myself become enveloped by loss.

On our drive back home, we passed through streets with green and blue ribbons tied around fenceposts and stop signs to honor the victims. I couldn’t help but notice that several of the houses lining these streets bore American flags that had been flipped upside down – a sign of their simultaneous patriotism and distaste for the state of our country – and for the first time, I knew other Americans felt the same way I did. As we drove on, I again wondered: Do we have an obligation to fight for our country to be better?  

Looking back at my great-great-grandfather’s words and towards the future that appears steeped in chaos and turmoil, I firmly believe that if we Americans cannot stand for the state of our country, then we have a responsibility to fight for a better tomorrow. The bleak state of America is overwhelming, which is why it is critical to begin with small steps – we must begin this fight on a local scale, each choosing something we are each passionate about and committing ourselves to this cause in our communities. For instance, my parents spend their free time running both Alcoholics-Anonymous and Al-Anon groups in Minneapolis, working with people who suffer from, and are affected by, addiction to drugs and alcohol. While the work they do is not inherently political and does not make the national news, I know countless people who have become better parents, friends, and citizens because of my parents – this creates a ripple effect which continues to change our community for the better. It is when these small, local ripples join together to create something larger than the individual that national reform occurs. So, whether it is working with addicts, advocating for gun law reform at city council meetings, or committing yourself to biking instead of driving, we all have the potential to genuinely, positively change our country.

When we deem the state of America too dire, and the steps to fix it too large to take, we become complacent. Our complacency leads to two children – both under the age of eleven – being murdered during morning mass. Our complacency leads to healthcare for millions being cut, leaving our poor for dead. Our complacency leads to an expansion of oil drilling which kills countless plants, animals, and eventually people. Our complacency leads to an America which we are ashamed to be a part of. 

You and I cannot afford to become complacent – it is our obligation as Americans to approach the future steadfastly, with our heads held high as we always have, determined to shape our country into one which we are proud to call home. As Elmer Davis once said, “This nation will remain the land of the free so long as it is the home of the brave.”