In the early 1980’s, I won a small-town local essay contest with an essay titled “What America Means to Me”. I don’t remember much about that essay, but I remember that it began with this line:
Today in this age of rising political anxiety and confusion…
Tonight, thanks to Austin Ziegler, I see that there’s a new wave of essays being written to reflect on the Obama inauguration. I’m looking forward to that inauguration, and here’s why.
I believe that too often, those of use who were born and raised in America feel a sense of entitlement with respect to the world. “They hate us for our democracy,” we say, overlooking the ways that our investments have polluted other environments, or how our purchases and policies have supported corruption and abuses that would horrify us if they happened to someone we knew personally.
There have been many good things that Americans have done for the world, but as Kurt Vonnegut wrote, the tragedy of the Second World War was that “it made war reputable because it was a just war.” With deep respect for the sacrifices of all who’ve lost to war, I believe that we Americans have been callous to the sufferings we’ve brought to people on the other side of our weapons, and that it’s time to start changing that.
I have had the good fortune to work with many people who are different from me, especially with people from different parts of the world. The booming (and busting) Silicon Valley technology industry has brought us together, and has taught us that the things that we have in common are greater than our differences, and that the one who seems most different and foreign may in fact be the one that we can most count on when times get tough.
I think that the biggest tragedy of the last eight years is that we allowed a horrific criminal act to deaden our senses and then responded defensively rather than reaching out from it to build peace in the world. For a time, the world sympathized with us and said “We are all Americans” but we replied “Thanks, now we’ll take care of this” and quietly took comfort in the scenes of violence that were so safely far away. “You are rich by how far [away] a battle is,” wrote William Stafford.
Another sorrowful observation is how little empathy we have for those who disagree with us. It seems to be inherently human, for whether a person is religious or irreligious, conservative or liberal, northern or southern, eastern or western, we always find it easy to mock and deride people who are different.
But the Obama inauguration can be a turning point. Just as my good fortune of working with people who were different from me broadened my perspectives and taught me lessons of empathy, I believe that an Obama presidency can bring that to much of America. Another large part of America has been waiting for this, and with that part I also celebrate. We are all different, and we are all one. Not just as Americans, but as people who briefly share in life on this planet.
...and if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal. —John F. Kennedy
One comment ↓
In Silicon Valley, we live with extreme diversity every day. Hell, I’m as WASP as anyone, and I haven’t spoken English all weekend.
I once met a guy on a ski lift in Utah. I do not recall where in the U.S. he was from, but it was a place where he lived among his own kind. During our conversation, I mentioned that the vast majority of people I work with are foreign born. In an unguarded moment, he commented, “I don’t know if I could handle that.” Of course he could handle it, but he may never get the chance to find out. So like the majority of Americans, he goes on thinking that foreigners are something best left to the State Department, or worse, the Army.
We as Americans have a ways to go toward appreciating the diversity of our world, but a mixed race, Bahasa Indonesia speaking president with a foreign father and the middle name Hussein is a nice start.
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