I believe I saw my first plateau today. It’s strange to use the word plateau outside of a business setting - in recent history, I have used it to describe an area of a graph, a condition or state of being of particular business matters. But it’s been quite a long time since I visualized an actual plateau outside of the business setting.
Flying to California today, I looked out of my airplane window and marveled at the land below. I’m always in awe whenever I fly over the western part of our country. The land takes on different shapes and colors and few highways and cities mar its beauty. In a world of overpopulation and pollution, it’s refreshing to know that land exists that is still – somewhat – untouched by human hands.
Among the wrinkled mountains, snaking rivers and isolated lakes, I saw the first plateau. It looked as if a knife had horizontally cut off its peak, its sides rising from the dusty ground, only to be abruptly sliced flat. The last time I truly thought of a plateau in its most essence form was middle school social studies, learning about different land forms along with Native Americans and cloud formation. But it wasn’t until today when I really saw one in person – or maybe took the time to really notice.
And then I saw another one. And another. Each one took on a slightly different form, one was small and contained, another much larger. And then the mack-daddy of all plateaus – one whose sides rose from the ground, but the flat top extended for as far as I could see from 35,000 miles in the air.
On these western trips, I am constantly amazed by the vastness of our country. And while there are politics in this country that enrage us, war that fractions us, racism that divides us, and miles that separate us, we should all be united in that we are Americans, in that we live on and share this beautiful land. This land is our country and knowing that should bring us solidarity as a common people, as Americans. That no matter how different we are or how much we disagree or how many mistakes we sometimes make, we share this journey, this culture and this land together. Maybe if we embraced that solidarity more, embraced the pride in our patriotism, we would feel more like a family that argues and less like a garment that is ripping apart at its seams.
Showing posts with label common cause. Show all posts
Showing posts with label common cause. Show all posts
Monday, June 02, 2008
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Save the Turtles
Like many states, North Carolina allows motorists to choose special-issue license plates. Perhaps you'd like to proudly display you're a Purple Heart recipient. North Carolina has a license plate for you. Or maybe you're a proud UNC-Chapel Hill fan. For a mere $49.95 a year, you can wear a tar heel on your license plate. (Yuck).
I came across one just the other day - Save the Turtles. While thinking about this great cause and what I could do to help save the turtles, I thought back to some international friends that went to school with me. Among the many cultural quirks they experienced in America, one of the most amusing to them was the obsession Americans have with their causes. We seem to have an organization for anything you can think of - Race for the Cure (breast cancer), March of Dimes (premature births), PETA (anti-fur), Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, Greenpeace, Cropwalk, Autism Speaks...the list can go on and on. So why so many causes and why does this appear to be somewhat unique to us Americans?
Perhaps having passion for a cause, and rallying others around it, is part of the human condition. How that manifests itself may be more a factor of environment. The Taliban has passion for a cause and rallies others around this cause. In history, the same was true for the Crusades. Maybe in America, where the government is stable, people have disposable resources and people are relatively happy, we find other causes to get involved in. We could rally around religion or politics, as you find in other countries, but since we are relatively happy in our current state, we don't want to tip the balance too far. So we get more granular. More, well, frivilous. And our passion and causes get more and more segmented.
Which brings us back to the turtles.
I would like to save the turtles. I really would. But how can I save the turtles? And what am I saving them from? And why stop at turtles? I would like to save the dolphins, the oceans. The air, the unborn babies (yes, I said it. So what? I'm a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n roll), the rainforests, the poor. Basically, I would like to save the world. Can I get that on my North Carolina license plate?
I suspect we're saving the world from one another, from ourselves. If that's the case, then our cause seems fruitless and much too large for any one person (or even a big group of us) to tackle. Maybe that's why we segment: if we can find a group of people that feels passionately about turtles, then maybe we can help save just one piece of our planet. Maybe it's more than just belonging to a group, giving money, and getting others to believe in your cause. Maybe it starts with each one of us, for us to save the turtles, the babies, the world, from ourselves. Little things we could do everyday to make a small difference. Between a campaign of one and a campaign of many, perhaps we can save the world.
That would be a cool license plate.
I came across one just the other day - Save the Turtles. While thinking about this great cause and what I could do to help save the turtles, I thought back to some international friends that went to school with me. Among the many cultural quirks they experienced in America, one of the most amusing to them was the obsession Americans have with their causes. We seem to have an organization for anything you can think of - Race for the Cure (breast cancer), March of Dimes (premature births), PETA (anti-fur), Pro-Life, Pro-Choice, Greenpeace, Cropwalk, Autism Speaks...the list can go on and on. So why so many causes and why does this appear to be somewhat unique to us Americans?
Perhaps having passion for a cause, and rallying others around it, is part of the human condition. How that manifests itself may be more a factor of environment. The Taliban has passion for a cause and rallies others around this cause. In history, the same was true for the Crusades. Maybe in America, where the government is stable, people have disposable resources and people are relatively happy, we find other causes to get involved in. We could rally around religion or politics, as you find in other countries, but since we are relatively happy in our current state, we don't want to tip the balance too far. So we get more granular. More, well, frivilous. And our passion and causes get more and more segmented.
Which brings us back to the turtles.
I would like to save the turtles. I really would. But how can I save the turtles? And what am I saving them from? And why stop at turtles? I would like to save the dolphins, the oceans. The air, the unborn babies (yes, I said it. So what? I'm a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n roll), the rainforests, the poor. Basically, I would like to save the world. Can I get that on my North Carolina license plate?
I suspect we're saving the world from one another, from ourselves. If that's the case, then our cause seems fruitless and much too large for any one person (or even a big group of us) to tackle. Maybe that's why we segment: if we can find a group of people that feels passionately about turtles, then maybe we can help save just one piece of our planet. Maybe it's more than just belonging to a group, giving money, and getting others to believe in your cause. Maybe it starts with each one of us, for us to save the turtles, the babies, the world, from ourselves. Little things we could do everyday to make a small difference. Between a campaign of one and a campaign of many, perhaps we can save the world.
That would be a cool license plate.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)