[UA] 10 Most American Things

[Greg Stolze]

Okay, I'm from a medium-sized city/town in Iowa, (population just a  
scoche under 100,000), and I feel like I have to step up in defense  
of the midwest.  As one of my cousins said, "Look, we're not on the  
farm because we're too dumb to find our way to town."  (Of course, he  
doesn't farm anymore.)

There are a lot of interesting contradictions in America.  There are  
a couple powerful movements in the culture, both with positive and  
negative aspects, often conflicting and sometimes combining in  
interesting ways.

First off is what I'll call "frontier spirit."  There's this cult of  
the individual in America, the self-made man, the lone eagle, self- 
sufficient and beholden to no one.  The upside of this often takes  
the form of respect for difference.  "It's none of my business what  
Fred down the road is doing with Ted in that pup tent on Brokeback  
Mountain."  The flipside is indifference.  "It's none of my business  
what Ed up the road is doing to his daughter on Friday nights."  "If  
Ned can't pay his bills and is going to lose his house, well, it's a  
shame but that's his lookout."

There's also this communal impulse, and yes, it's almost always hand- 
in-hand with Christianity.  In fact, I can give you an example from  
my own life.  Check this out: My wife works in the admissions office  
of a small college.  During some recent heavy rains, a storm-sewer  
grate got blocked at the bottom of a cul-de-sac and the water wound  
up slamming through this guy's garage and the bottom half of his  
split-level -- strong enough to blast the glass back doors right out  
of their frames.  Both cars a total loss.  Lots of property damage.   
He's not insured for floods.  He is, in a word, fucked.

A day or two after the flood, the college wrestling team shows up at  
his house to help with hauling out the ruined carpet, moving the  
waterlogged furniture and doing other heavy lifting.  People from the  
college and from his church are bringing him food, lending him stuff,  
raising cash to help him get by while he tries to get the city to pay  
out (since they should have kept the storm sewer clear).  He said, "I  
knew I was working at the right place when I saw the Dean of Academic  
Affairs with a shovel, helping put my house together."

That's the positive side of that communal feeling.  People you barely  
know will come out in the middle of the night when they see an  
ambulance in front of your house and ask if there's anything you  
need.  The down side is nosiness.  People you barely know will come  
out in the middle of the night when they see a cop car in front of  
your house and speculate about why it's there.  They'll notice when  
you're not at church, and they'll speculate when your wife shows up  
at church with another woman instead of you.

Sometimes you get people who are both caring and respectful of  
diversity, and sometimes you get people who are indifferent to your  
suffering but still judgmental of your troubles.  On the other hand,  
there are people who are curious combinations of tolerance and  
judgment ("My dislike has nothing to do with his race.  Have you seen  
the state of his LAWN?") or people who are caring xenophobes.  No  
really.  Go read Shirley Jackson's short story "After You, My Dear  
Alphonse" for a slightly dated but exquisite portrait of that.

-G.
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