For most of my life, I’ve lived in a country with a proud and shameful history. Wonderful things still happen here, but it’s easy to remember the bad: most of us are in debt. New plagues of digital addictions and near-useless information (or worse) assault many of us, daily. Do not forget the growing disparity of wealth, spiraling mental health, and rising gun violence.

Is it sad that with those last two words alone, you immediately know what country I live in?

A clever man once wrote: