I have certain strong bias, but often times I find myself divided on how I feel on a matter. I will feel strongly on one side, and quickly feel stuck in between because I can see both sides. It is a constant struggle, and makes it hard to blend in sometimes. I don’t feel like I belong sometimes, the “real American” views don’t fit mine. Who’s to say who is American or not? Like in the poem “I, Too”; “They’ll see how beautiful I am/And be ashamed--/I, too, am America” (lines 16-18). I am not political or religious, and I tend to lean more towards the artsy side. The constant fight with religion tires me, especially living in the “Bible Belt”. There is nothing wrong with religion, but didn’t the pilgrims come here to escape exactly what some people are doing now? It’s sad to me that something like religion can be turned ugly. There is so much corruption … As for American culture, we have done a lot. The industries we created, the Native American history and culture, jazz music, all sorts of amazing things to be proud of. How
we are such a diverse nation is amazing, if only we could embrace it. There are so many amazing cultures to our history, yet we try to hide it behind sexual appeal instead. Everything is so focused on perfection we make ourselves miserable. Girls are taught to almost be ashamed of their natural feelings where boys are taught to embrace them. Then these girls grow into adults where sexual appeal is almost necessary. Our whole country if full of mixed signals and lessons that always contradict each other.
Ashley Bean
No comments:
Post a Comment