We are a Nation of Do'ers

I get the feeling sometimes that what I see and what the rest of the world may see differs. A matter of perspective.

In an International Business class I had the occasion to come across a website, http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/country-profiles.html. After reading about the customs & culture of Norway and completing my report I was curious to see what the site had to say about Americans. It was really very thought provoking:

“The Family
The family unit is generally considered the nuclear family, and is typically small (with exceptions among certain ethnic groups). Extended family relatives live in their own homes, often at great distances from their children.

Individualism is prized, and this is reflected in the family unit. People are proud of their individual accomplishments, initiative and success, and may, or may not, share those sources of pride with their elders.”

For the majority of us our ancestors (within a few generations) came to America from other countries. In my case, this would be in my grandparents and great-grandparents time. When these ancestors of mine came to America they left their families and struck out on their own – very often with little more than a hope and a prayer.

Once you made such a journey, in those times, you were pretty much on your own. There was no way to get help from family and friends – they were too far away and most likely communication with them would have been cut completely by the distance and limitations of the time. So self-reliance would become essential to survival.

To even undertake such a journey, I would think you would have to have a powerful belief that you could create a new life, a better life for yourself and future generations and that this was worth the cost (of the loss of family and friends in “The Old Country”).

Our ancestors committed their (and our) future to this new country. Coming to a new country, especially at that time, when it was largely uninhabited in so many areas, and creating from the ground up the kind of home, community, government, culture and customs one wanted would give our ancestors a deep appreciation and sense of belonging.
Because family & friends were so far away people came to deeply appreciate and value friendship in such a way that friends and other community members came to be considered “as family”.

Once they had found where they choose to settle our ancestors went about making it their new home. Once basic survival needs were met, they then extended their efforts outward to create a community and a nation from scratch. And in those few generations between me and them we have come a long, long way, as has the world around us. The pioneers of America traveled thousands of miles, survived great hardships and worked hard. From building log houses, schools and communities – building transportation systems – communications – and all manner of marvels.

To create a community and a nation pioneers had to be philosophers, as well. We founded our country on principles that were pondered a great deal and as we have grown we have continued to ponder these concepts. Our ancestors, started with a basically blank canvas and we continue to modify it today. The standards of hard-work, self-reliance, community, service to the community were all key factors to our success and in my opinion remain so today.

When I read the above quote it made me wonder at our sense of family. I have issue with how Americans are represented. While it is true that our ancestors left behind family and friends to start fresh in the “new world” I believe that the generations that have followed have valued, ever more so because of that, our sense of family.

In today’s world even though our children may live at a distance we have the luxury of communication on a level never before known to humankind. With our technology we can have “live-virtual meetings”, send not just letters but pictures and videos nearly instantaneously; we can travel across the world in a matter of hours to visit each other – we are no longer isolated, as our ancestors were, when we make the decision to move to a new place and take root.

Where I really think this review misses the boat is in not realizing that Americans have, in many ways had to re-define “family”. We were raised by people who had to ban together as strangers and build communities. And in some ways that has not changed. One of the differences, between us and some of the other countries, is our sense of patriotism. We live in a country where we have the freedom to make the rules, to speak out against injustice, and work together to make positive changes.

Like our ancestors we are a nation of “do-er’s”. I believe that most Americans are purpose driven to work together to build healthy, safe and happy lifestyles. That is why the majority of us work every day and spend significant time volunteering. We are a people that believe in hard work. We believe in giving time and resources for causes to help not just ourselves but others. And as I age, I ever marvel, at our ability to create, to invent, to expand our horizons.