HomeHomeNovember 2001
In the past two months since the terrorist attacks, Americans have been forced to adjust to a new reality---living with fear that another major attack is possible or even imminent, and that it will come sooner, rather than later. With the recent anthrax-related deaths, we are also living with the terrible knowledge that we are all vulnerable to biochemical and nuclear warfare on a scale we did not want to imagine possible. We have been drawn into a long battle against internal and external enemies, one that will forever change our nation and our way of life, one that could affect the fate of the planet. We have entered terra incognita.
Among other things, we are tightening up our immigration laws, changing laws to enable our government to broaden its powers of surveillance, and debating whether or not children should be required to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in our schools.
In this new climate, displaying the American flag is fashionable again, and this symbol of national unity can be seen everywhere--on city buses, cars, commercial buildings, private homes, and even articles of clothing. We are wondering how best to show our patriotism and love of country, as we reflect on exactly what it means to be an American. Sadly, we finally realize how damn lucky we’ve been. And we are trying to stay strong in uncertain times, as our economy shrinks and millions of us lose our jobs.
After September 11th, we found solace in words and song--in our own national Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner and in the hymn America the Beautiful. Poetry, words, music--all bring comfort during tough times--they calm us, and feed something in our souls that longs for connection--perhaps with the eternal, perhaps with a sense that our nation and our people have endured other difficult times, other dark hours. We need to know that this, too, shall pass.
It is especially important now, as we enter our season of Thanksgiving that we all remember who we are and where we came from. Knowledge, understanding, and an appreciation of American history and the American experience will help us as we determine our future. Our collective memories of our past, of what our own ancestors endured in their lifetimes, and the sacrifices they made, can help get us through the tough times to come.
American history, like the history of other nations around the globe, is not "Hollywood beautiful". There have not always been happy hours or happy endings. Rather, we are a nation in motion, a nation deeply influenced by the energy of immigration, of a continual struggle for human and political rights, and a nation that is continually redefining itself as we move through time. Our ancestors’ concept of what America could be was forged in difficult times. Our people have endured other wars, internal and external, as we have fought for our liberty. In our quest for political and economic growth and expansion, injustices have been done to our own people. We still have to live with the terrible legacy of slavery, as well as the sad legacy of having nearly destroyed American Indian cultures.
Examining the past--both the glorious and painful periods--can give us a more rounded view, not just of American history, but of human history as well. Every nation has been through good and bad times. When we understand the sacrifices made by our American (and immigrant) ancestors, we can appreciate our homeland that much more.
In 1776, Thomas Jefferson, our third President and author of the Declaration of Independence, wanted to guarantee the "right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" for future generations of Americans, a concept still considered unique to this day. The document he wrote, signed by men who dared defy the British Empire, forever changed our nation’s destiny and the way we view ourselves as Americans.
Abraham Lincoln had the difficult task of presiding over this nation during the worst of times, the American Civil War. In November 1863, four months after the bloody Battle of Gettysburg turned the tide of war in favor of the North, Lincoln dedicated the Pennsylvania battlefield a national cemetery. In a briefly elegant two-minute speech, he said:
"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow - this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
The sacrifices and hard work of reformers such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton eventually paved the way for sufferage for American women. Unfortunately, they didn’t live long enough to see women get the vote in 1920.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King was one of the most visible and inspirational leaders in the American Civil Rights movement. Though President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in the Confederate states, it would take another hundred years before African-Americans would see the end of segregation and a renewed dedication to basic freedoms for all.
These are just a few of the many, many leaders who tried to make a better life for others in our 225-year-old American "experiment". Their sacrifices, their dreams as well as the sacrifices and dreams of "ordinary" people are all part of the tapestry that is American life today.
When we remember them and honor our past--all of it--we can better appreciate who we are as a nation. We know that our forefathers and foremothers made it through tough times----we can, too. Remembering serves another purpose as well. Our memory of our collective past can link us to other people in the world who are also struggling. We can become more compassionate during this difficult historical period.
Happy Thanksgiving.
Teresa
Resources, news, and interesting tidbits:
November 11th is Veterans Day. The original intent of this day was to commemorate the end of the "War to End All Wars" - World War I. The Department of Veterans Affairs offers information about the day, including an FAQ.
November is National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. You can read about earlier efforts to honor first Americans at this web site: http://www.doi.gov/bia/namonthist.htm
Are you in need of inspirational stories? Check out two terrific new books:
Last year, we mentioned Katherine Martin’s Women of Courage. This year she has written another fabulous book of women’s stories, Women of Spirit: Stories of Courage from the Women Who Lived Them (2001, New World Library, Novato, California). This is just the kind of reading we need now.
Donna M. Lucey has written a wonderful new book, I Dwell in Possibility: Women Build a Nation 1600-1920 (2001, National Geographic Society, Washington, DC). Ms. Lucey points out that until recently, American history tended to ignore women’s stories. American women have proven they are co-equal partners with men through their "imagination, energy, persistence, " Ms. Lucey says. She also points out that they not only flourished, despite the restrictions placed on them, they "dwelled in possibility."
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