Slighted. Betrayed. Abandoned. Disoriented. Uncertain.

Ask any Cardinals-worshiping, Budweiser-drinking, die-hard St. Louisan how he or she feels about Anheuser-Busch’s recent buyout by InBev, and that is what you’re bound to hear.

One month ago, a proposed takeover of Anheuser-Busch by international mogul InBev, a conglomeration of Belgian and Brazilian brewers, went public.

InBev baited the hook for A-B’s stockholders with $70 shares, and they bit. St. Louis’ very own Fortune 500 company will now be called Anheuser-Busch InBev. Though its North American headquarters will remain in St. Louis, its international headquarters will transfer to Leuven, Belgium. A-B leaders will have only two seats on the merger’s 14-member board of directors.

The $52 billion deal makes financial sense for those destined to cash in as the St. Louis brewing behemoth sells out. Pensioners with shares of A-B will find their bank accounts a bit cushier. The new conglomerate will be among the five largest consumer product producers in the world, according to an official press release.

But for the St. Louis community, it feels like betrayal.

Many St. Louisans watched the deal percolate in national news with disbelief. The Brewery on Pestalozzi Street, just south of downtown, is a relic of an earlier, golden age for this Rust Belt city. The Clydesdales, the croaking Budweiser frogs, the solid grandeur of the brewery itself-St. Louis natives have these images ingrained in the most formative niches of their minds.

As the suburbs burgeoned and the city grew frail during past decades, A-B was still strong; it linked St. Louis to a rich history of strength, pride, fame and influence. What’s more, A-B gave back to the St. Louis community, donating hundreds of millions of dollars to local programs and charities.

A-B made St. Louis something unique. It poured its resources into St. Louis, and St. Louis responded with loyalty.

That is the frightening part about A-B’s fall. Yes, the North American headquarters will remain here. Yes, most blue-collar brewery workers will keep their jobs. Yes, the 12 breweries that A-B manages in North America will remain open-at least for now.

But there’s still something wrong: The security is gone. The community is weakened. The soul of St. Louis, if just for a moment, seems to be diminished.

The traditions that A-B has established will remain, so long as they can be used to sell a product. But now, the focus will be driven by objective profit motives, not subjective community spirit.

In the United States, we are accustomed to believing in our ownership of the world around us. Remnants of patriotic, war-time propaganda-“America is the best country,” “Nobody can stop the United States,” “We have the right to take over what we can”-have been shaken by challenges of a globalized society, but the mindset behind them is still strident.

But this strikes closer to home for St. Louisans. This is a wake-up call.

The sale of our formerly impenetrable A-B to a foreign conglomerate strikes fear into our collective heart, but it also reminds us that there’s a world out there filled with businessmen, doctors, teachers, factory-workers and students just as competent as we are, competing for the same chunks of the same economic pie.

We must be aware of what’s going on, not just in St. Louis, but in the world. Our American birthright may not be the old boys’ club it has always been for us, as SLU graduates in a flatter world. Whether we want it or not, we’re part of a worldwide community, and we’re tasting the fruits of our own globalization.

We’re part of a brave new world and must become part of it to survive.