the TRUE spirit of America
I will be cynical for a moment- i think i'm allowed. two weekend ago, Rachel & I went to New York City. It was a great weekend, and she loves New York a LOT! so it was worth our time and money for me to use that a part of her birthday present this year. We did a lot of walking, went to Central Park, but our main objective and idea of spending our day on saturday was to hit up the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. It was a GREAT time- beautiful day (check out of my flickr photos) and an excellent history lesson. One of the things I love about where I live now is that we are so close to so many cities and places where history comes alive! I've always enjoyed history, but it is so much more enjoyable when you get to experience it firsthand.
I also was quite humbled when we went to Ellis Island. Just learning how much people gave up to try and come here, to listen to some people's stories of how much they worked when they arrived just to feed their family, but saying it is a better life by far than the one they left. One guy who said he came home from a 14 hour evening shift working for the railroad and his kids were having a tutor there to teach English- and they wanted him to stay so he could learn to sign his name. He said he wanted to go to sleep, but he would stay most of the time because he was just so proud to be here, and when he learned to speak and write, he was so proud to be an American. And we have no idea what that feeling is, but it makes me hurt to hear it because we have been so blessed to not have to experience it. and because we have not, i think we may be missing out on the true spirit of our country. The Spirit of feeling blessed or privileged- not entitled- to be here. The feeling of being lucky enough- not supposed to- go to college and get a good job. The feeling of joy and delight- not hum drum, ho-hum- to have a family to love and provide for.
What i saw during the weekend, and what i heard in those stories were two completely different things. What I mean is that i heard the stories of imigrants and it touched my heart. Then my eyes saw what all too often seems to be the true spirit of America- consumerism. People lining up, sometimes pushing, to pay too much for little trinkets- being more obsessed with getting those than with just being there. It made me cynical of the way we are, and a longing for people to embrace the old. I know i'm a pretty sensitive guy to a lot of that stuff, anyway, but after hearing the stories of imigrants, and seeing what they had to go through just to live in a place where they were free, the last thing i wanted to do was go buy lots of stuff with my excess of money.
