The World is Flat

As an American, I've been raised to believe that America is the best nation. The greatest inventions with their intelligent inventors reside here. The worlds leading companies are headquartered in one of the fifty states. The cluster of creation and innovation that is America has created an upward spiral of progress and prosperity that absorbs and includes any willing citizen. It's easy to be proud of America. It's easy to be an American. I do realize; however, my pride in America comes with a downfall. The downfall is located in the heart of my American pride. My pride is selfish. It wants for America and for myself, and does not want for others. I'm involved in a self-serving struggling to become successful. I want to experience prosperity. I want to be swept up in American opulence. To me, the flattened world is spreading the American "good life" over the surface of the planet, causing American abundance and plenty to become thin and less concentrated. I've always been told about the American dream, and now that dream exists for the innovative where ever they may be. "So, be creative and compete." I tell myself "Be better than the best." But, I wonder if there's enough prosperity to go around. I have to be capable of being successful not on the American stage, but on the world stage. As an American on the world stage, where do I fall?