Reflections on American Identity

Thoughts from a New Vantage Point...

I have been a critical American for many years now, always ready and willing to judge the actions of my country with an eye for the injustices that have been trespassed within the United States and through our foreign policy abroad. My travels prior to this trip helped to deepen my understanding of the suffering American policies have inflicted on great parts of Latin America. I am deeply grateful for the perspective my experiences in countries such as Guatemala and Mexico have given me. With this said, I am profoundly proud to be American. I always have been so and believe I will remain proud until the day that I die.

We are a conflict-ridden, divided country with a confused history of the highest hopes of equality, diversity and co-existence mixed with war, genocide, persecution and slavery. It has always seemed to me that my generation has the opportunity to let the evil die and manifest these highest aspirations of our founding fathers. The people of my country come in all shapes, sizes and colors, speak a diversity of languages, worship most every world religion and have ancestral roots running through all continents on the planet. We are a young country—a toddler, really, in the scheme of human civilization. At this moment in history, we are a very powerful child on the playground of world politics, and it remains to be seen if we, as a nation, can maneuver our way humanely, sanely and intelligently through the 21st century. While I remain skeptically hopeful of America's possible contribution to a better future, I remain honored to call such a seat of world diversity, potential and power my home.

Being in Spain, a place with such strong history and past, has given me tremendous perspective on the United States. Through the conversations I have had with friends and acquaintances here, I have gotten a well-rounded vantage point on how my home is viewed through Spanish eyes. Funnily enough, in many ways their perspectives have helped me to have patience and empathy for the process of United States of America…I have regained a bit of hope that we might still have the ability to be the nation we set out to be. From a Spaniard’s perspective, we are a young empire still learning how to manage our own creation, and the world order we set out to create is, in many ways, a more honorable one than past European empires. As my friend Gustavo often says when we talk about world politics, “The world is a playground, and there will always be a stronger dog on the field. What will the stronger dog fight for? What will be his conquest—gold, fame, power, religion, equality, justice?” He says, “I would rather the United States hold world power than a Communist China”…and with a different political sentiment in Washington D.C., I would completely agree.

The upcoming elections in the United States are a grand topic of conversation here in Spain. I cannot go 5 minutes talking to someone I have just met without being asked which candidate I support…and no one is referring to McCain. It seems assumed here that no American in their right mind would re-elect a Republican to the White House at this point in time. I have to say, I hope the Spaniards that I have met are right.

I believe I will return to my country from this trip grateful for the experience to see my home from a distance. This distance has given me the ability to both criticize and love my home—to see the numerous flaws we Americans (and our government) possess while also acknowledging the potential for change, equality and justice we have the ability to create within the United States and throughout the world. In the end, I think it is in the hands of our people to embrace our diversity and not fight against it. If we are able to do this, maybe there is hope for the world at large…at least these are some of the hopes that have come to me in Spain.

Other large shifts in my perceptions of home have included my perception of “old” and the rich historical heritage the European cities possess. This ties in to the aforementioned concept of the USA being a child in the picture of world history. I understood this to some extent before this journey, but it has really become apparent to me while being in Spain that by and large Americans do not understand what “old” really means. I have also come to realize what aspects of my home mean the most to me—community, friends, my family, my career. I love the people I have met here, but miss my community, friends and family daily. Also, I love the experience of working in schools here in Spain, but I am glad to be an American educator. While our system is flawed and in need of resuscitation in many ways, I think education in our country offers a more progressive road to success and aims to more deeply develop the human mind than what I have seen in my weeks of teaching in Spain. With this said, there are great lessons I will carry with me back into the U.S. classroom from my experience abroad. Including how to use dictation and drills well, which I cannot believe I now want to use in my classroom! In the end, I know that I will come back a more well-rounded human being ready to embrace my country and my life at home.