I dont know. What I can say for certain is that Im not yet ready to abandon the possibility of Americanot just for the sake of future generations of Americans but for all of humankind. For Im convinced that the pandemic were currently living through is both a manifestation of and a mere interruption in the relentless march toward an interconnected world, one in which peoples and cultures cant help but collide. In that worldof global supply chains, instantaneous capital transfers, social media, transnational terrorist networks, climate change, mass migration, and ever-increasing complexitywe will learn to live together, cooperate with one another, and recognize the dignity of others, or we will perish. And so the world watches Americathe only great power in history made up of people from every corner of the planet, comprising every race and faith and cultural practiceto see if our experiment in democracy can work. To see if we can do what no other nation has ever done. To see if we can actually live up to the meaning of our creed.

A Promised Land by Barack Obama