Over the past few weeks the issues of unity, partisan politics, and media objectivity have been hotly debated. As I listen to people sharply divided on issues like civil liberties, gun control, and the war it’s gotten me to wondering the reason we’re all in this country together anyway.
Why did we go through the Civil War? Why didn't Lincoln just propose 'the divided states of America'? Or a ‘two sides of America’- the South could be the lower east side and the north the upper east side of the nation (visually speaking). Today we have more intricate titles for these distinctions- we have red and blue states. (Which always always seems to conjure up thoughts of Dr. Seuss.) And just for the fun of muddling it all, the media has recently introduced the term ‘purple states’. And now we can’t just chop the country in half; there’s no one region that’s completely red or blue. Wanna declare the northeast Democratland? ‘Not so fast’ says New Hampshire...
Then there’s the real beauty of it all...
the swing states (Anne Hache states?) which could go either way. Jersey has long been a classifiable as a blue state (until 2004 that is- much to my and Bruce Springsteen’s horror). But if you look at the state in terms of counties it’s much like the east coast: South Jersey tends to be more conservative while the north tends to be more liberal. Of course, it doesn't end there...
There’s always the occasional conservative town in the north (I’m from such a town- imagine my popularity) and the liberal town in the south. Thinking of this reminds me of George Carlin’s line,
"I like it when a flower or little tuft of grass grows through a crack in the concrete. It’s so fucking heroic."
The country is an endless macro/micro equation that usually makes my head metaphorically explode to think about.
And then I read a blog tonight that brought me back. I was struck by the core of this country and the subtext of all the great history textbooks: humanity.
I was reminded of a moment from a few months ago back in New York, a place that has a trademark on rushing. I was hustling down the street headed for school when I felt a wooshing breeze and looked over to see a girl racing to catch the bus. Just as she was getting to the doors, her cell phone fell out of her pocket and bounced a few paced down the pavement. Not missing a beat, a man instinctively picked up the phone and promptly handed it to the girl. Meanwhile, the bus driver halted the bus as the girl retrieved her phone and boarded. A handful of people had also stopped in their tracks and only continued to go about their way after confirming that the girl had her phone. In the midst of a city notorious for crime was and example of the great lesson that Anne Frank was profoundly aware of: most people are intrinsically good.
Keith Olbermann gave a wonderful Convocation Speech at Cornell in which he elaborated on ‘Moral Force’. He said,
"It's such a simple thing, really. It's an awareness that the other people in the world are other people, and that you are one of them. That every time you have a chance to help somebody out, to do what's right instead of what you think you're supposed to do, you should do it."
http://www.news.cornell.edu/...
This sense of humanity is the underlying theme in the history of our country. Our instinct as humans is to help others when it’s needed. And it’s a powerful (not the Fox News connotation of the word) concept. Humanity is what inspires our troops to fight and protect the well being of others. It’s the supreme fundamental of our country; we all share it and that’s why we live in the United States of America.
Humanity is the real core of this country. This is my definition of patriotism. It has nothing to do with titles such like liberal and conservative; neither side has the patent on patriotism. Joe Scarborough has elaborated on this numerous times, most recently in his favorable comments on Obama and in an interview with Robert Wexler. (I know I sound like an MSNBC whore, but this is why I regard the network so highly.) Scarborough aptly described the heart of this nation:
"Everybody wants peace. Everybody wants to keep this country safe... There are some people that are some people that are horribly disadvantaged and we need to do what we can to bring them up."
http://youtube.com/... It’s really this simple: we are all people.
Patriotism is about humanity, and that’s why it’s so important. At the end of the day, the words Republican and Democrat are merely social constructs. But the real substance is in humanity. Unfortunately some politicians abuse this powerful concept for ulterior motives. And I think that’s why so many Republicans have even turned against Bush. The idea that our sense of humanity was disgraced is infuriating and that’s what has charged emotions so much during this election season. Bruce Springsteen released an endorsement for Barack Obama in which he stated,
"After the terrible damage done over the past eight years a great American reclamation project needs to be undertaken."
http://www.brucespringsteen.net/... Our president drove us off the path of humanity that our country was set on.
In its purest form, politics is supposed to serve humanity. The primary objective of Journalism is to do justice to ALL people. Journalism is supposed to be objective because the greatness of humanity is not restricted to one party. The potential for ethics is inherent in all people and therefore, Journalism must be objective in order to respect that.
We all contribute to this concept of humanity in our personal careers. Life is truly a collective experience. I think the purpose of life is that we all play a part in helping each other live. For example, we may never meet the farmers that provide us with food, yet we would perish from starvation without them. Government and the media honor humanity through a two part process. The government helps to lessen the burden on Americans and the media informs the people of how well governmental actions are being carried out. Humanity fuels our country.
In closing, I offer the ideal that I try to live by: In every situation, with every decision, no matter what- humanity comes first.