Hair shirt的意思_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

Hair shirt的意思

Still, I saw evidence every day that all of us were not equal, that many were left behind and worse, that many Americans clearly thought the rest of the world was inferior. Despite this, I still maintained that it was amazing that a country would hold fast to these principles, that an ordinary man of modest means could fight in court to assert that he was as equal as that guy in his Lamborghini. And often win.

Then there’s my personal experience. I arrived in this country a nobody, simply wanting to write. In the intervening years, I was recognized, published, and elevated to some modest recognition. Many generous and patient people encouraged and mentored me, without regard to where I was from, the color of my skin or my gender. Yes, I know Americans take all this for granted, in fact we demand it here – but stop and think about all of the implications of this freedom to be oneself, to be defined by nothing else but talent and effort.

Then the last eight years happened. I was reminded every day how venal, selfish, small-minded and sinfully stupid some of my countrymen can be. I had to live with the fact that I was bringing up my child in a country that was dismantling its most cherished tenets at a terrifying pace.

I wore my citizenship like a hairshirt. It was like I was in love with someone who beat me, then the next morning said or did something that set me hoping again, only to punch me in the stomach that night. It tired me out, all this despair and hate.