Around the middle of this month, the United States government will make a notable announcement: it will declare this nation to have 300 million residents. The Census Bureau will officially certify the number, making our country only the third in the world, after China and India, to have at least this many people.

We have come a long way in a short time. On the day of my birth in 1928 we had only 120 million. By 1968 that number had jumped to 200 million, and now, fewer than four decades later, we have reached 300.

More striking than the number of people is our diversity. In my memory, nearly everyone used to look like me, white and fair-skinned. Now, in many parts of our country, you see people of many different looks.

We expect to find congested variety on New York City subway cars, but you can find some of the same diversity in Des Moines. On my visits there, I have been pleasantly surprised to find a more than a few people from African countries as fellow worshipers at the cathedral.

These neighbors have brought new variety into our lives. Routinely, we eat sushi, tortillas, and pad thai. Our sports stadiums feature newly popular games, and they resound with new languages as do our churches. New communities of faith have sprung up, and we have friends and colleagues who worship in the Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim tradition.

How should one feel about these demographic changes that have so transformed the US of A? For me, it’s largely matter for celebration. Our size and our diversity are precious resources. Our new populations grace us with new opportunities. The astounding variety within our 50 states can benefit us all.

However, our national arrival at 300 million also provokes questions. Why, for example, in such a large and mixed nation, is our national leadership so poor? Cannot we find men and women better equipped to guide us toward fulfillment of our potential?

Our current leadership, president and Congress alike, have led us into war on which this nation spends some six billion dollars a month. Our nation has immense resources, and immense needs as well; why are we mortgaging the future in the interest of dubious short-term goals?

To cite one example: when we can boast of so many inventive citizens, why does this country persist in its reliance on huge imports of oil? Surely we have enough people skilled in science and technology to discover alternative fuels and put them to use.

And why are so many of our fellow Americans, over two million of them, confined to prison? There must be creative ways of transforming this unfortunate situation, unique in the world.

That more than 40 million of our 300 million people live without the security of health insurance is a scandal that cries out for remedy. Such deprivation should not be tolerated in a nation so rich and so creative.

An aspect of the new American diversity for which I have special feeling is the aging of the population. With the eye of a gerontologist himself growing into late life, I observe how many of my fellow citizens have reached my advanced years or even further. You don’t have to visit Florida to notice it either: walk down any city sidewalk and you will be impressed by how many people outrank you in age.

This demographic evolution is often presented as an intractable problem. However, the graying of America better deserves to be seen as an opportunity. By reason of more advanced schooling and improved health, many Americans middle-aged and older are equipped to work for the good of the community. That vision is what drives Civic Ventures, a national movement that highlights the potential of elders for pitching in.     

Immigration, which is part of the collective memory of most American families, continues to enrich this nation. Many of the workers we meet in restaurants, health clinics, taxi cabs, and stores have clearly arrived from another part of the world.

When I ask where they come from, they tell me Brazil, Sudan, Vietnam or other far-away places. Some have escaped from murderous conditions in their native country; nearly all have found a better economic situation for themselves and their families.

It is impossible not to be moved by their stories. I feel pleasure at their good fortune and a new awareness of the privileges that I enjoy as a U.S. citizen.         

Demographers expect this nation’s population to level off at about 400 million a few decades from now. Given our immigration and birth rates, they project that the United States will retain its ranking as third largest nation after China and India. This figure should assure the US of continued great human resources.

If only we can learn to deploy them better!

Richard Griffin