Stop whatever you are doing.  Seriously.  It’s not important.  Okay, maybe it’s important, so finish what you’re doing but then stop.  Figure out a way to leave the country.  Whether you find a job, you have the money, or just the free time.  Go.  Leave.  Get out there.  Right now.

I want to start out first by saying that this is in no way an anti-America rant.  I friggin’ love this place to pieces.  I’ve been back for 2 weeks after having been gone for a half-year and you have no idea how much simple pleasure I get from simply eating a ham sandwich or watching Sportscenter.  We have so much and so much of it.  It’s not bad to be an American.  Coincidentally it’s not so good either.  Our economy is on it’s knees, we have a legislature that gets along about as well as Skins and Cowboys fans, a populace that is in some ways more polarized than it was during the Civil War, and the idea of the American Dream is fading like a 70-year-old tramp stamp on a lady who tans too often.  Regardless, this place is still far better off than much of the world, and we live incredibly privileged lives.  America is an incredible place, a place where the hope for a better tomorrow is a perpetual and ingrained sentiment among the people.  People have been coming to this country for centuries because of that very idea.  This is a country with epically diverse geography, more land than one can possibly see in a lifetime, and an equally diverse population.  In short, America f*** yeah.

BUT.  Back to my original point.  Get out.  Seriously.  We all need to.  I think we have all lost sight of what America means.  We don’t really understand it anymore.  What happened?  I was sold an idea when I was old enough to understand what it meant to consider my future.  I was told that if I went to school and worked hard I could be anything – an astronaut, a Disney cartoonist, a chef, a firefighter, even the President.  So I did it.  Yes, I’ll admit I was a pain in the butt as a kid and I made a number of ridiculous mistakes, and continue to make more everyday, but I always worked hard in school.  I knew it was important.  I knew an education was the key to an enriched life.  My father was a teacher, my mother had been a teacher, my sister was destined to be a teacher – education and its importance was reiterated to me throughout my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.  I am very thankful for that.  But then something happened.  I graduated from college.  And here I was, a naïve college grad, assuming because I did pretty well in school that I could just charm my way into any profession.  What an arrogant moron.

I’ll admit it.  The first 6 months after college sucked.  I wanted to go back.  College was like summer camp, with beer – and better yet, it lasted for 4 years (7 for some, and no they were not on their way to becoming doctors).  After college I bartended, I floated by, I moved to New York City and got a certificate to teach English to adults.  I figured hey, “I’ll get a job immediately with this bachelors degree and fancy certification.”  Nope.  I ended up bartending in a Macaroni Grill and contemplating setting my head on fire pretty much every morning.  Good food – not the best place to work (but a job is better than no job).

Then something happened.  I caught a break.  I got a job at my former high school as a history teacher and soccer coach.  Finally, I got some experience, and I felt like I was doing something meaningful and fulfilling.  But it was temporary.  What was the next step going to be?  I know!  I’ll finally use that certification I wasted 4 weeks of my life on in the bitter winter cold of New York City and leave this country for a spell.  So I looked around for teaching jobs abroad, and then Georgia just fell into my lap (not literally).

Deciding to go to Georgia was the best impulsive decision I’ve ever made in my life.  And talk to my family and close friends, I’ve made a lot of re-damn-diculous impulsive decisions.  A friend chatted me on FB – asked me what my future plans were, told me he was in Georgia and that I should check out the program he was in because it flew its volunteers to Eurasia for free and he was having a great experience.  He did mention that it was a developing country and that the living standards were not the most comfortable.  I heard none of that except for the “free flight” part.  But I must also admit, the idea of living in a developing country, being challenged not only mentally but physically, excited me.  It sounded like a great big adventure, and I was in desperate need of one.  I finished my application that day, got my recommendation letters in, and I was off.

Leaving the country and living abroad was more enriching than I can put into words.  I arrived in Georgia knowing almost nothing about it other than that Joseph Stalin was born there.  I couldn’t even pronounce the name of the capital yet, Tbilisi (yes, they pronounce the “T”).  By the time I left I was having full conversations in Georgian (so were many of the other volunteers).  I got thrown into a small village with a family that spoke no English, had no toilet inside, no hot water the first 3 weeks (yes I smelled delicious that entire time), water that came from a well in the yard, no Internet, and no heating during the dead of winter with a foot of snow on the ground (very close to the mountains).  Needless to say I was somewhat disconcerted about what my overall experience would be like.  Honestly, I had the time of my life.  I was granted an entirely new perspective on the world.  I met people from every corner of the planet.  And I learned that while our cultures make us different, we are all the same at the core – we all just want to live happy and fulfilling lives, whatever our definition of happiness may be.  Not to mention, I learned how to use a Turkish toilet, and as a result my quads are in tiptop shape.  I also learned to be confident in my own ability to seize the day and the world – by the balls, and take from it what I want.  You can do it to.

Am I saying I’m better than you?  No way Jose.  I just had one of the most enriching experiences of my life.  All I’m saying is there’s no reason you can’t do it too, and I would be very happy for you if you did.

I said before that I think we have lost sight of what America “means.”  I’m not saying that we can’t find the answer to that question within America itself.  There is so much to explore in this vast and diverse monstrosity that is the mainland of the United States.  There is so much to discover.  I mean, have you ever met anyone that has been to all 50 states?  If you have, I commend you, and them, for completing and acknowledging that incredible accomplishment.  How can we really understand our country if we don’t get out and explore it?  I think it’s a valid question, and one that has a very simple answer.  We can’t.  We also can’t understand our country if we have nothing to compare it to.  This is why you NEED to leave.  If we want America to improve, to get out of this depressing slump, we need to understand her – in order to make her better.  How can you cure someone if you don’t understand the nature of his or her illness?  You can’t.

So please.  For me, for you, for America, for THE WORLD.  Go out and see it.  It doesn’t matter what you are doing.  You can drop it at any moment and leave – seriously you can, the only thing that’s stopping you is fear.  There are a million opportunities to go abroad.  And why the hell not?  Can’t find a job here?  Go elsewhere.  America will be fine.  We have a habit of dusting our shoulders off and moving forward.  But it’s up to us to pick this country back up; it’s not going to happen by itself.  There’s no reason we have to be in the country in order to do that.  Be an ambassador.  Show the world that we aren’t all reality TV and Internet obsessed morons that can’t point out China on a map.  More than that – enrich your life by experiencing another culture, by seeing and feeling something for the first time, by doing some good in the world.  And then come home.  Even if you don’t go now, go at some point in life, and for an extended period of time.  Don’t just be a tourist.  Go out there and really get into it.  Become a cultural sponge – absorb it all.  You won’t regret it.  Think about it.

‎”We are stronger the wider we open our arms. Our dreams are more powerful when they are shared by others in our time. And we are the only ones who can create a climate for the American Dream to survive another generation, then another and another. ‘If the American dream is to come true and to abide with us,’ Adams wrote in 1931, ‘it will, at bottom, depend on the people themselves.’ True then, and true now.” – Jon Meacham, Time.  June 21, 2012