There is a new documentary coming out and this is just a piece of it. Listening to it, I heard the names of many of my heroes. As a kid, I devoured books on American history. I later went on to get a graduate degree in American history. My political views, though a bit out of the mainstream, are uniquely American, and I see little difference in Eugene Debs leading the Pullman strikes and the Sons of Liberty dumping tea in the Boston Harbor. The Botto House in New Jersey sent as many shivers up my spine as when I visited Harper's Ferry and saw where John Brown led his raid. All of this is to say that we need to be careful about when we make statements about who is more patriotic or who loves their country the most. Johnny Cash was able to transcend so many of the divisions of America because he realized we were all uniquely American. My experience may not be the same as your experience but it doesn't make it any less part of the American experience. And reading the headlines, it looks like we are all going to be in the same boat together battling some rough seas. Pause for just a minute and enjoy the words of Cash.
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2 comments:
Amerika
I once met Johnny Cash in person. It was in the 1960s, the Newport Folk Festival in specific. I was just a kid then eating a sandwich at a picnic table behind the stage when Cash invited me over to his table. "Don't need to eat alone, young man," he said. And then he asked me where I was from, and what I wanted to do in life, and if I was enjoying the concerts. One of the warmest experiences ever, I will never forget.
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