Guest Janet,

1. Certainly not. Proud; and (cautiously) hopeful about the future.

2. But perhaps you should, as you said at the outset, "despair". Well no, wait: never despair. But be very concerned.

Not about America, though. Rather about your own condition. Anyone whose grasp of objective reality is as tenuous (to put it gently) as your first cast indicates---and whose perception is such that she actually believes (emphasis added) "...that the self satisfaction of the USA is the **scariest problem in the world today"**, as your second throw proclaims---stands in need of major assistance.

Now help *is* available, G.J. There are therapies. But the first step is to admit that there really is a cognitive problem. The second is to recognize that No, it is *actually not your fault*. (Any more than, for example, the mass murder of 2,800 innocent people on September 11 was actually America's fault.) Then, you can take positive action.

You can do it. Good luck.