Looking at America

The end of a year is always a time to reflect.  Where have we just been?  Where are we now?  What lies ahead?

This New York Times editorial looks at America on the last day of 2007.  Using the language we too often have come to expect from the Times, they see our country in grim, dark terms.  "Contempt for the Constitution," sorrowful sense of estrangement," "lawless behavior."  While I would be the last to defend all that our nation has done, and while I am by no means supportive of everything this administration has done (and not done) - I, nevertheless, see quite a different America.

I see an America where all things are possible.  Irrespective of the color of your skin, your nation of origin, your religion, your sex, the class into which you were born - you can achieve greatness in this country.  I see a woman, overweight and black, who is now a billionaire and one of the most powerful, famous and beloved people on the planet.  I see candidates for President:  male, female, black, Hispanic, Mormon, Catholic, born again, from all parts of the country.  While we now have no idea which one will represent the Republicans and the Democrats, we know that they are not immediately out of the running, as they surely would have been a generation ago.

As a Realtor, I see many families "up close and personal."  I see loads of "mixed marriages" - white and black, Hispanic and Jewish, Russian and Irish - all thriving, some with babies and toddlers who will lead the way into this new century.  I see individuals who were immigrants, children of those who came here with nothing, now gloriously successful and thriving.  On my own block, an upscale area of the 'burbs, I see a wealth of diversity.  My neighbors are Indian, white, black, Jew, gentile, older and younger. 

I see a country where innovative ideas and entrepreneurship can lead to mind-boggling success - a place where time and stronger civil rights laws have led to opportunities and advances for all of us.  While our society still struggles with the changes that such advances cause, for the most part, we are moving in the right direction.

In my own special bridge world, I continue to see a colorful quilt of talents and competition. Billionaires battle "the little people" - and, be you rich or poor, gay or straight, believer or atheist, from New York City or Mobile, AL, in the end, all that matters is how you played the game.

I see a people with access to homes, vehicles, shopping, houses of worship, schools, technology, debate, entertainment, the arts and more than ever before.  A panoply of choices awaits us each day; we need only go after what we wish.

Do I think that we are without fault, this nation?  Of course not.  We are always evolving; we are always committing errors.  I see a nation where progress still needs to be made with acceptance of one another:  race relations, religious beliefs, sexual preferences, political philosophies.  We have serious issues to face in our educational system, our health care delivery, our judicial system. 

Our nation has a (mostly) free marketplace.  Yet, like any marketplace, it is subject to emotion, whim, excesses, greed, larceny and more.  I see a corporate structure that has gotten out of whack in recent years, where those at the top reap rewards way out of proportion to those below them - and far more than they did in previous generations.  Are they "worth it"?  I think not, and I also think that in time, if they do not curb their greed and selfishness, the market will calculate how to correct it - even if that means that government intervenes. 

Ultimately, though, our freedoms, be they in our markets or our government, provide us with more opportunities and benefits than most others on the planet.

Walt Whitman, one of our most important poets, saw our country.  Leaves of Grass is a testament to our nation like perhaps none before or after.  Though well over a century old, we can read a tiny excerpt of this gargantuan poem, and see an America quite different from the one seen by some doomsayers.

Our nation faces extraordinary challenges, and solutions are complex.  Nevertheless, just as they have for generations before ours, I have faith that the people of our country will continue to progress with optimism and a lack of fear.  Happy New Year.

O you robust, sacred!
   I cannot tell you how I love you;
   All I love America for, is contained in men and women like you.

   The veneer and glue-pot, the confectioner's ornaments, the decanter
         and glasses, the shears and flat-iron,
   The awl and knee-strap, the pint measure and quart measure, the
         counter and stool, the writing-pen of quill or metal--the
         making of all sorts of edged tools,
   The brewery, brewing, the malt, the vats, every thing that is done by
         brewers, also by wine-makers, also vinegar-makers,
   Leather-dressing, coach-making, boiler-making, rope-twisting,
         distilling, sign-painting, lime-burning, cotton-picking--
         electro-plating, electrotyping, stereotyping,
   Stave-machines, planing-machines, reaping-machines, ploughing-
         machines, thrashing-machines, steam wagons,
   The cart of the carman, the omnibus, the ponderous dray;
   Pyrotechny, letting off color'd fire-works at night, fancy figures
         and jets;
   Beef on the butcher's stall, the slaughter-house of the butcher, the
         butcher in his killing-clothes,
   The pens of live pork, the killing-hammer, the hog-hook, the
         scalder's tub, gutting, the cutter's cleaver, the packer's
         maul, and the plenteous winter-work of pork-packing;
   Flour-works, grinding of wheat, rye, maize, rice--the barrels and the
         half and quarter barrels, the loaded barges, the high piles on
         wharves and levees;                                        
  The men, and the work of the men, on railroads, coasters, fish-boats,
         canals;
   The daily routine of your own or any man's life--the shop, yard,
         store, or factory;
   These shows all near you by day and night--workman! whoever you are,
         your daily life!
   In that and them the heft of the heaviest--in them far more than you
         estimated, and far less also;
   In them realities for you and me--in them poems for you and me;
   In them, not yourself--you and your Soul enclose all things,
         regardless of estimation;
   In them the development good--in them, all themes and hints.

   I do not affirm what you see beyond is futile--I do not advise you to
         stop;
   I do not say leadings you thought great are not great;
   But I say that none lead to greater, than those lead to.         


  Will you seek afar off? you surely come back at last,
   In things best known to you, finding the best, or as good as the
         best,
   In folks nearest to you finding the sweetest, strongest, lovingest;
   Happiness, knowledge, not in another place, but this place--not for
         another hour, but this hour;
   Man in the first you see or touch--always in friend, brother, nighest
         neighbor--Woman in mother, lover, wife;
   The popular tastes and employments taking precedence in poems or any
         where,
   You workwomen and workmen of These States having your own divine and
         strong life,
   And all else giving place to men and women like you.

Comments

[Greg]

You write:

"While I would be the last to defend all that our nation has done, and while I am by no means supportive of everything this administration has done (and not done)"

I am curious as to when and where have you shown any disapproval for any of the wrong doings of this Administration? In the past I have seen bashes on Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger, Hillary Clinton, yet not a peep about

- domestic spying
- US Attorney firings
- Waterboaring
- Outing CIA agents
- Katrina
- The non actions to the raping of an American citizen by KBR
- Abu Ghraib
- Voter caging

The list is too long to list everything, but these are just a few possible criminal actions that you been silent on. So I ask can that silence be construed with limited consent?

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

Martin Luther King

[Joe Godfrey]

Great post! It's refreshing to see someone take a moment to thank America and recognize her greatness. America has done far more good for than world than bad. Humans are not perfect, we make mistakes. What's truly great about America is that our founding fathers recognized this when creating America and put checks and balances into place to limit our mistakes. They also provided us the tools to correct our mistakes.

It' sad that so many people are like the one who commented before me. They only focus on what we've done wrong, instead of what we do right.

[Greg]

To Joe,

I am sorry to rain on your parade, but I Love this country (please read my last comment on torture found on the post The Tough Ones), and I want it to be the best that it can be. My only point is this. When Bill Clinton was President, do you think that Peg or any of the Republican's would let any of the things I listed just slide? Be fair, and be honest. Do you not feel that any of this would not be a topic of how far we have slid as a country if a Democrat would of been in charge?

Now the second question is, do you deny any of the wrong doings that I have listed? Are any of the things I listed made up, or not important topics? Compare any of this to such scandals such as the Postagegate, Travelgate, White Water and all the other made up scandals of the Clinton Administration. Are any of the things I listed not important issues, or are you like a child going to deny anything that might be ugly, or uncomfortable? It is amazing that a so called second or third tier country such as South Africa could have the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look at past mistakes and learn from the mistakes. This is a far cry from what we heard from Republicans during the 80's who kept screaming 'rule of law'. Then we have people who whole thing is to pretend mistakes and wrongdoings are not important, that is of course unless it is a Democrat. Does not what Martin Luther King ring any amount of truth with you, or any other Republican, or does it only apply to Democrats and those of the Left?

So Joe I ask you, are you one of those that Martin Luther King spoke about when he said

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."

You are silent because for some reason these things seem to not matter to you. Interesting and very foretelling of your values and principles.