A shift in my world perspective (weltanschauung) came by way of a missive written backwards - so that it could only be read in the mirror. Such an experience seems to capture the way American society needs to be seen. 'Bass ackward' is not just a humorous description of what passes for achievement these days. Indeed, three steps back for every step forward is not progress and soon agitates to a feeling of having your back against the wall.
The interesting thing about looking in the mirror is that you see differently than you do normally. Because the right-side of your face is replaced by the left-side and vice versa, you are made aware of what was always there to see but opaquely.
In The Twilight Zone terms, you see that you are a stranger to yourself. In effect, you are directed away from the presentable view (your "good" side) of yourself to your sinister (from Latin meaning "left") side.
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Our dark side, far from being our inner child, is our protection from our felt-needy-ness (original/innate poverty/vulnerability). It's there, in our mirror image, to remind us to be wise to the world and, more so, the worldly. It's the required handshake that primitively assures us that we are meeting friend, sans weapon, and not foe. It's the caution that something may be hidden behind a smile. And it's the teacher in the school of hard knocks who points out that it is too good to be true.
Should you doubt this two-fisted approach to self-knowledge, have several pictures taken of each side of your face (in profile). Mix them up and then choose the ones that you like the best. Invariably, you have chosen the same profile of yourself. It's just two-faced to deny our bias toward the plausibility of our being nice people when there's another view-point staring us in the face.
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Ah, so what does this reveal about our country?
First, we can get a better sense of U.S. if we look honestly, sans bias or agenda, to our beginnings and read forward from there. Then realize - the savage without found the savage within.
Second, discount all that is too good to be true about this country. Most of what has been taken cannot be replaced. Third, we need to be as wise to the lure of globalization as to its worldly beneficiaries. Luxury will always be maintained on the backs of the poor and destitute.
And lastly, see clearly on our currency - "In God We Trust"; not what is most sinister in today's economic dealings - 'In Leveraged Debt We Benefit'.
