Ramblings of an Individual

So it's been a while.

Oh, don't get me wrong, my fingers have not lost contact with the keyboard or any such thing as that. On the contrary, I have been writing quite a bit. The format changed and none of it has been public but I have been writing just the same.

The fact is, I have sort of been writing a book. I say "sort of" as there is no guarantee that this book is going anywhere or that it will be read by anyone. And I'm ok with that. Besides, while that part of the story is pertinent to this post, it isn't what the post is about.

Something has struck me during the process of a plot thickening and characters developing as this story continues to thread itself together. And then tonight, during the Super Bowl the ad starring Clint Eastwood left something with me as well. So many things have happened lately to keep me coming back to this point. And for those that keep up with such things the beginning soundtrack of this entry is U2, Where the Streets Have No Name.

The point is individuality.

The factor that is bringing this out is thinking of the greatness of a nation. What makes that nation great? We are told stories of old - great kings and queens that led powerful nations and did great things. Inventors, explorers, soldiers, sailors, marines. But we hear about the nations - Great Britain, France, Spain, The Roman Empire and most recently, the United States. We see the fruits of the greatness - Global colonization, domination of Europe, discovery of the New World, ruling the known world and the world's lone "superpower".

Who did these things? What made the nations great? Some of it was being in the right place at the right time, But most importantly, that claim belongs to the individuals that worked to make the nation great. Governments don't create wealth and have nothing they don't take from the people. That truth is universal, regardless of the type of government system a country has.  What makes the country great is people.

In an American election year, we hear stories of every sort of group you can imagine. People lobbying for the middle class, the women vote, the black vote, the Latino vote, the union vote, the evangelical vote, the Catholic vote, etc, etc, etc. Everyone is lumped into one group or another. Usually 8 or ten, give or take a dozen. It's easy to lose track of who you are.

People look at me funny sometimes when I say something about a particular topic, as if perhaps my stance doesn't exactly fit my status in the short, blond, fireman, Southern-writer-wanna-be, Gen-X, Christian white dude with poor eyesight demographic. Most people aren't expecting me to fall in the Sam demographic - which is funny, considering that I'm Sam, regardless of any of those other things. I was still Sam when I was a 145 pound high school sophomore trying to gain weight to play football, back before a medical condition warped my corneas. I'll be Sam when my blond hair is gray and I sit on the front porch griping about how loud the neighbors kids are and talking about things "back in my day".

Rambling.

So, think of the things that made America great. The light bulb over my head is a direct descendant of the one invented by Nikola Tesla, (Yes, I know what your teacher told you but remember, Columbus' teachers told him the world was flat.) The iPod playing this Driving n Cryin beside me is a distant cousin of the radio invented by that same Serbian mastermind - he'd tell you that Marconi was a donkey. Besides Nikola, there were other great men and women, most of whom you have never heard of and probably never will. Some got up every morning and went to work on production lines. Some rode steel girders hundreds of feet into the air. Some worked as slaves in fields of cotton, rice, sugar cane and tobacco. Some came from China, Ireland and Poland only to be derided for their "identity", their demographic.

And yet, like myself, you always find someone whose political beliefs, personal goals, worldview, religious convictions, you name it, doesn't quite fit their demographic. These people have stepped out and taken a path on their own. They are not held in the pen of their demographic, they are an individual. If we are honest with ourselves, we all are. And in an age where diversity has become such a buzzword, how can we not celebrate the ultimate unit of diversity - the individual?

And yet, look at the comments on the updates from almost any group on Facebook and you'll see epithet after slur of every imaginable combination of letters and punctuation marks. We have lost our ability to reason, and on some level, to be individuals. We have chosen sides, and whether it's politics, religion, sports, or basket weaving, we're right and they're wrong and if you disagree then you are a...well, you get the picture. Let's just say it has deteriorated from logic and reason...deteriorated is not really a good choice of words...I think it is more like devolved as it has lost its humanity and only passion and ignorance remain.

I am reminded that Thomas Jefferson and John Adams shared a trait with Abraham Lincoln and Alexander H. Stephens - both pairs of men were staunch political adversaries...and close personal friends. Such things were possible back in the 18th and 19th centuries. Judging by the modern discourse these men would have each thought the other might be capable of copulating with his own mother or that his intelligence quotient was not quite 50. One might even suggest that the other enjoy a meal of excrement and then go to live with Jesus. But somehow these men could set those differences aside and allow each other to be individuals, realizing that there is humanity inside the people we disagree with just as there is in those we agree with - just as there is within ourselves.

So it goes.

I feel a little rusty at this point. It is difficult to speak your own mind after filtering it through fictional characters for such a time. But hopefully there is more to come, both here and there. Until next time...