i was just thinking this morning that the eventual legacy of the US just might be the understanding that exceptionalism is largely a myth. the US has been this

i was just thinking this morning that the eventual legacy of the US just might be the understanding that exceptionalism is largely a myth. the US has been this great experiement in individualism (among many other things), and while the country has had a great run, we're learning over and over again that we individuals stand on the shoulders of giants (of our own making), that our accomplishments are a peculiarity of both our own efforts as well as those of hundreds if not thousands of other people. it's great to celebrate our accomplishments, but attributing those accomplishments to a single person--as tidy and satisfying as that might be--is simply incorrect (e.g., steve jobs, bill gates, elon musk, etc.).