The United States is celebrating its 250th birthday this year. From the adoption of the Declaration of Independence to today, the country has gone through a lot of changes: sometimes progress, sometimes setbacks.
For May’s Big Question, we asked you: As we recognize the 250th anniversary of America, what do you want the next 250 years to look like?
Here’s what some of you said:
Melissa, Derry: More support for women, especially stay-at-home moms. Maybe more community for women like me. I'm 37, and I started having kids late in life, and I think there's just no real outlets for moms and the community base. It's more of working moms, and just like stuff like that.
This is Bodie [her son]. He's about to be three, and we just kind of do our own thing. I think there was a little community called The Nest, but they went under because there was just not enough money in it. . . . So I think more stuff like that.
Read more: Find NHPR's ongoing coverage of the 250th anniversary of the United States
Casey, Concord: I want the next 250 years to look like liberation from exploitation. A society where everyone can afford to live and where workers are respected instead of used, where billionaires don't hold disproportionate power over democracy and our daily life. I want truth, transparency, and a return to community and a future where well-being matters more than profit.
Sarah, Hopkinton: People learn to respect the planet. I mean, this is all we’ve got. I don't know if you read the book Orbital, but it's a precious little floating ball and to put care for the planet over profits, to put care for the planet over our daily comfort, sort of to cherish the earth.
I think it has to be policy. I think it has to come from the government, because I don't think humans en masse can collectively do the things we need to do from a planet health basis without governmental support and leader support. So, I think that's our number one issue facing us: Learn to work with and for the planet, instead of for our pocketbooks.
Kevita, Bedford: When I think about what I want the next 250 years to look like, I want a future that looks like Star Trek. And right now, we seem well on our way to the world of Alien, which seems to be the most obvious cautionary tale I can think of.
I want the emphasis on discovery, the emphasis on learning. Right now we are just filled with ignorance. We are steeped in ignorance. And what we need to do is embrace learning again. Embrace understanding each other instead of screaming at each other. People listening, people learning, people reading, people not outsourcing their brains to AI. I think that's a huge thing. People who are resisting this urge to make everything easy, to make everything frictionless, because I think people are finally understanding that a frictionless existence is a lifeless existence.
And we need friction in order for our brains to work properly. In Star Trek, they don't fight the aliens most of the time. They try to understand them. It's about going boldly where people haven't gone before.
