Today, if I were teaching English at the high school or undergraduate level, what topics might I ask my students to write about for their weekly 1,000-word essay?

I actually did teach English and contemporary affairs in high school and college early in my career. That was many years ago.

Given the contemporary state of affairs though, I’d be tempted to intrigue them by suggesting that we are at a serious inflection point, and invite them to partake in the following introspection about who we are as a nation.

“Class – There’s a common belief that America today is at an inflection point, politically and socially. Questions keep churning in my head about this and I wonder if you might help me think through some of these issues by picking one of the following topics for your weekly essay. Remember, your job is to convince me not just with your opinions, but with evidence to support your opinions. Choose ONE of the following and enlighten me with your explanations.”

1. When America looks itself in the mirror, what does it see? Does the mirror reflect what we believe America to be – what America really is – or what we desperately want America to be?

2. When America’s enemies and allies look at the United States, what do they see – past, present and future?

3. Does most of America share a common moral vision of our nation and do our political leaders’ moral views affect their politics and policies?

4. To what extent do ethics play in shaping our national agenda at home and abroad and do different ethical and moral standards lead to different social behaviors?

If you as readers were one of my students which of these topics would you choose to write about and why? Or, if you’re just auditing the class, maybe you just might want to contemplate all of them.

Relax, I’m not asking you to submit papers. I wouldn’t want to grade them anyway. What I am suggesting, however, is that you as readers might want to seriously consider these matters. I do believe that America is at an inflection point and we need to think about who and what we want to be as a nation and stand for as we proceed into the twenty-first century.

You’ll note I wasn’t asking students directly about climate change, artificial intelligence, abortion, tariffs, defense spending, drugs, immigration or any other specific policy issues. I was more interested in how we see ourselves from contemporary and historical perspectives. I’m assuming that we’d all agree that we are facing a rapidly changing and technology-infused world.

Inflection points invite introspection. I sometimes get the feeling that many in today’s world tend to react reflexively by what we mindlessly hear in the echo chambers of our choosing, like watching cable news programs that support our opinions rather than broadly based more neutral news programs. Introspection implies the hard work of deep thinking about something that’s important, like, where’s the nation headed domestically, and internationally in this complex interconnected world?

Joseph Nye Jr., the former Dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, has written a compelling book entitled, “Do Morals Matter?” While it’s mostly focused on foreign policy, he suggests that Americans are constantly making moral judgments and that “unfortunately, many of these assessments are poorly thought through.” He asserts that moral reasoning should play a greater role among citizens in a democracy.

“America First” is a common refrain today. The defense of our interests and national security are indeed paramount. Yet in many if not most circumstances we face, the consequences are not existential, at home or abroad. Our strength and security are largely a function of who our friends are in the world, economically and militarily, and how effectively we deal with them. For example, it is increasingly crucial to our national security to work cooperatively with NATO and our allies in the Indo-Pacific. And from the standpoint of our economy, aggressive tariffs can be a two-edged sword as they relate to our commercial well-being.

Yet when “America First” is viewed by allies as arrogant or patronizing, we not only lose friends but we also lose the kind of support and empathy we need when things get gritty. Professor Nye calls smart, strategic diplomacy, “contextual intelligence.”

Moral and ethical conduct are connected to contextual intelligence. I’m reminded of the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.” Yet there also comes a time in the course of human events when being assertive and necessarily forceful is required, even if some bruises are sustained. But these things can most often still be done with fidelity to moral and ethical principles.

Which brings me back to America in the mirror. While I think the imagined writing assignment would be a thought-provoking exercise for young adults, their answers might make an even more interesting read.

The point of the exercise is simply this. When we as a nation look into the fabled mirror, what do we see? Is there a resemblance to whom we were meant to be by our founding fathers? Has time, technology and an interconnected world changed us? Do we still see ourselves as the exemplar of democracy, or is our image looking more unrecognizably undemocratic? Is America’s moral compass spinning as political violence increases? And alas, has partisanship and ideology so distorted the image of our nation that we become unrecognizable, like a carnival house of mirrors?

William Galston, an opinion columnist for the Wall Street Journal, wrote this week about the moral and ethical dangers of indifference to the rule of law. He recalled Abraham Lincoln’s words relating to principles of conduct, saying that “reverence for laws,” becomes the “political religion of the nation.” Amen to that.

We are a proud nation with a remarkable heritage. Yet for a variety of reasons, we find ourselves passing through a very real political and cultural inflection point. We might just be our own worst enemy. Who knows? Or maybe not. It’s why the metaphor of a mirror seems right to me, as a way of taking a look at ourselves. So, I respectfully invite you to look into the looking glass to see what you see of America, and whether or not you like the image.

Bill Sims is a Hillsboro resident, retired president of the Denver Council on Foreign Relations, an author and runs a small farm in Berrysville with his wife. He is a former educator, executive and foundation president.