US

Us. Not the U dot S dot United States. This is about us. You and I; him and her; those guys and them.

Us. The quintessential component of happiness.

I heard a story today about a family of four. There is a mom and 3 kids. Dad died suddenly of a massive heart attack. The three kids all have MS, and are confined to wheelchairs. And they're happy. The Red Sox lose on a random Tuesday night in May, and I'm pissed until the next night when they get back on the winning track again. Each of these boys will inevitably predecease their mom. And they're happy. They hang out together, watch movies together, laugh together, go to the doctor together, and commiserate together. You see, this family "get's it."

They understand that "together" is another way of saying "us."

Be honest now. Do you live for yourself? If you do, I'd be willing to bet you're not as happy as you could be. Look at Britney Spears. Look at most of Hollywood, for that matter. Susan Sarandon always taking it to the NYC Police Department. Woody Harrelson climbing the Golden Gate Bridge because we don't listen to PETA enough. These people have millions, are chaufered everywhere, have their asses kissed whereever they go...and they're miserable. Why? Because it's about them. It's always about them. They can't even spell the word "us."

This country needs a collectivity enema; at the very least a suppository. We're all sitting around watching "American Idol" and wondering when the government $200 tax rebate check is going to arrive. We have $4 for that pack of cigs and $6 for the six-pack, but we can't spare a handful of pennies out of the change slot in the car for the homeless dude on the corner. We have expressions like, "What's in it for me?", "What have you done for me lately?", and we say "I" fourteen different times in a standard 5 minute conversation.

232 years ago, Thomas Jefferson took out his feather, dipped in the ink jar and so eloquently wrote:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

This is the preamble to the Declaration of Independence, otherwise known as that silly document that talks about things like 'us' and 'we' all the time.

Then again, you could take the position, "Ohhhhh shit. JL4 is a-preachin to us again", then ask me to answer the question, what the hell did Tom Jefferson know about life in 2008?

Nothing, I suppose.

Did Tom ever struggle to download a song onto his iPod from napster? Did John Adams ever file his taxes electronically? Did Ben Franklin have any inkling of what it would be like to have to live in the suburbs and commute to work?

Nope, they knew nothing of such things. You're right. Forget about all this crap I just spewed and go ahead and take care of yourself. It's the American thing to do.