Another Request
For a girl who used to post every other day, I've sure slowed down. I can't blame any flooding this time either, because fortunately, the rain seems to have gone back to normal, barely-any-rain weather. The real culprit behind my lack of posting is the library.
Yep, the good ol' fashioned library. I've been taking the kids every week, and since I figured out that I could request books online and they would ship them into our little library branch, I've been reading almost every spare moment that I have. For the most part it's been enjoyable stuff, but the book I've been reading lately has been one of those very unsettling ones. The kind that has me tossing in my sleep because my brain won't shut down.
Was it a horror novel? A super intense suspense thriller?
No, it was a book about history. Specifically about all the things high school American history textbooks get wrong. Some of you maybe have even read it: Lies My Teacher Told Me, by James W. Loewen. Since I never took a single American History class in college, some of the things he talks about have been absolutely shocking to my senses.
Some of the things, like more accurate portrayals of Abraham Lincoln and Reconstruction and the segregation efforts of Woodrow Wilson were fascinating, but a lot of the stuff he presents left me depressed and reeling because he seems determined to convince us that the United States is really not all that great of a country.
I just can't believe that. But I know that people in this country do absolutely wonderful things for each other that don't make the history books. So I have a request to make, especially to you fellow bloggers out there. Would you please post the story of someone you know personally doing something special for someone else? Something that made a difference in another person's life. Or you can post something in my comments. I could definitely use a shot of optimism right about now!
Comments
"12 days of christmas" for my dad (who has been near losing his job since the fall of the economy). he just told me on the phone every night what nice things that unknown family got him. it really brightened their christmas a lot.
Mind you, I haven't read the book, but based upon what you've said here's what I'm thinking. I don't think he's suggesting that Americans cannot be great people, but that America as an idea is not the perfection in governance that we've been taught it is. Like every country, our people are raised to be terribly nationalistic. Loyalty to one's country is not just good for the people, but excellent for the government as well, and those in charge. It makes us a cohesive group that sticks together in thick and thin. Same for all countries. But the unique thing about America is that our ideals of government are what set us apart from any other country or nation on earth. What makes a Frenchman or a Russian and what makes an American are two totally different things, and not in the obvious way. A German national, for example, is German not based upon where he's born, but the blood he carries in his veins. His ancestry, his traditions, his culture--all these things make him a German. What makes an American? What is American culture? Essentially it is the American Dream that makes up American culture. What makes an American is what he believes, not the blood in his veins. Our culture is the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights--all of them ideas and ideals. Concepts. In this way, anyone on earth can be an American. It's also why someone with no American blood at all who just set food in the country is suddenly an American. And I don't mean American citizen, I mean American. You can be half German, quarter French, quarter Iraqi, and 100% American. Our government, our Revolution, our Founding Fathers--this is what defines us as Americans. Anyone can be an American anywhere in the world, if they just believe in it. That is what sets us apart as a country.
In addition, our nationalism is vital to our defining ourselves as Americans. So the fact that he is testing the history that we've come to know and love is why it's so shocking to you. He is in essence challenging your very Americanism by saying these things. If an Englishman's history is challenged, nothing's changed. he is still English. But if America's history isn't what we've learned, suddenly we're not Americans anymore. We're lost without our glorious and selfless history of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The fact that the founders weren't as perfect as we've painted them is just a fact of nature. No one could possibly be as perfect as we've made America's founders out to be. No government could be as magnanimous and selfless as we lovingly think the past of America's government was. But the belief that these things are are essential in a way to our Americanness. Without these beliefs we don't have anything to grasp when it comes to our heritage. It's all we have. (And you thought I never went to my PoliSci classes.)
So with this understanding, I hope you're not too disillusioned by this book. For all we know it's all true. But does that change anything? Do you love your country less because of it? Do you feel less American because you suddenly see our past unfiltered? Do you believe Americans are less than what they once were or could be because someone decided to investigate and dispel many of the nationalistic beliefs we have that's holding our country together? If nothing else, the American Dream is still alive and well, even if many of us haven't reached it yet. The hope is still there and that is what America is.