Brooks on Whitman

I did what DeAne suggested and read Whitman's essay "as fast as I could". She was absolutely right. I didn't take in a word of it (but I got through it). I went back and read Brooks’ commentary on the essay and although I still have to go back over Whiteman's original essay, I am starting to see some themes develop which are easy to relate to class.

My first AmCon "ah ha!" moment came at the end of Brooks’ commentary. He says "the nation could not readily communicate its mission, either to the world or to itself." This demonstrates what we spent the whole semester discussing and discovering. We can't easily define who we are or what we stand for as Americans. As we well know, concepts such as freedom, the American Dream, and democracy change with time, place and people. It’s amazing to think a powerful, enthusiastic country such as the United States of America can’t even really describe itself.

Looking back over Brooks’ commentary an earlier statement stood out after I thought about our inability to describe ourselves as a nation. He says “it is misleading to think one can arrive at a single, consistent judgment about the United States (or perhaps about any society).” Perhaps this is the reason we cannot describe ourselves easily. Too often we look for a single answer but in reality, there isn’t. Like we’ve discussed and discovered earlier, things change depending on the time, place and the people. The best thing we can do is adapt, keep an open mind and understand the changing nature of this country and its visions.