The american dream is pretty pragmatic I'd think too. it allows for suffering and defeat. And when you read Whitman's works, its why there can be dirty streets and sick children, it has room for death and self-reliance.
Some of my fondest memories of being out there in the country have been in less than ideal conditons. Sleeping on busses next to strangers, and chatting up homeless guys. In that article theres a point where an Indian man is saying how after work, he talks to his boss like he's any other guy, and how that isn't a thing back where he's from.
America's never really tried to hide the fact that its not easy on people. Foreigners used to come here thinking the streets were literally paved with gold. You'll learn quick you can take anything you want here, but no ones going to give it to you.
I can't say enough good things about the place. I don't want to make this a partician message, and I know it'll be taken that way, but on Election Night, when Obama made his speech, the end of it, where he talks about Ann Nixon Cooper (the lady who's 106), even today it moves me pretty hard, almost to tears. Just some of the lines he says there cut to the core of everything thats still here despite our faults.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one thats on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. Shes a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldnt vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that shes seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we cant, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when womens voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
Hey maybe its not for everyone, but I still believe in it, and thats enough for me.
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