As every day, the country got up, put up some make-up to hide the marks of a sleepless night, and asked the mirror: mirror, tell me, which is the most powerful country on the planet?
The mirror looked into the bottom of the country’s eyes and replied: if by might you mean the one who best protects his people,
it is not you,
if by powerful you mean the one who does not discriminate,
it is not you,
if by powerful you mean the one who best protects the vulnerable,
it is not you
if by powerful you mean that justice is the same for all
That it is not you.
If by powerful you mean the one who has sent the most people to unemployment during the pandemic: 42 million,
it is you,
if by powerful you mean the one who allocates money to the hospitals for the rich, money that is needed in hospitals for the poor,
it is you,
if by powerful you mean the one who takes relief money from schools for disadvantaged neighborhoods and allocates a good slice of it to schools for millionaires,
it is you,
if by powerful you mean the one in which in Minneapolis a policeman murders an African-American man by pinning his knee on his neck suffocating him while he begged for his life and shouted “I can’t breathe!” and the other officers did nothing to prevent it,
it is you,
if a white woman becomes uncomfortable because an African-American man enters an apartment building in St. Louis, where, by the way, he was a resident, and calls the police to find out who he is,
it is you,
if in Central Park a white woman becomes uncomfortable because an African-American man asks her to keep her dog on a leash and calls the police to falsely report that “a black man, with a helmet, is assaulting her and her dog”,
it is you,
if someone gets upset, pulls out his gun and shoots you because you asked him to wear a mask to protect others,
it is you,
if you’re the country that has the highest death count for Covid-19, 103,000 and it keeps adding up,
it is you.
–Where in the world did I get up? the country wondered.
And the mirror responded: the problem is that you did not wake up, you keep dreaming that you are the richest, fairest, mightiest country in the world.
And that is not you.