March 11, 2004
GUEST BELI-BLOGGER BRADLEY W.: COMMENCEMENT: THE OPEN SPACE OF DEMOCRACY
In the current issue of Orion: Nature, Culture, and Art, the nature writer Terry Tempest Williams has a new essay, Commencement: The Open Space of Democracy. I've long been a fan of Orion Magazine and Terry Tempest Williams, and many of the contemporary and past nature writers. Their insights into culture and society often reveal the scars and cut through the superficial to reach into the wound to really get to the matter (in such a physical state).
Recently, Orion has been engaging in new democratic initiatives, prompted by the turn of events from Septemeber 11, 2001. This first essay comes from their Thoughts on America Initiative. They are also publishing a series of books, The New Patriotism Series...speaking to the phrase "September 11th changed everything". "This phrase has become common in today's America, with politicians, media, and everyday citizens declaring that the world needs to be seen through a much different lens after the tragic events of September 11, 2001. It seems undeniable that the phrase will come to be seen by future generations as an accurate representation of history. This series is designed to present September 11 and the new world through the eyes of some of our nation's greatest visionaries, including Wendell Berry, Barry Lopez, Terry Tempest Williams, and David James Duncan."
Hope you enjoy the essay and find some kernels of truth for yourself:
SINCE SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, we have witnessed an escalation of rhetoric within the United States that has led us to war twice in two years. We have heard our president, our vice-president, our secretary of defense, and our attorney general cultivate fear and command with lies, suggesting our homeland security and safety must reside in their hands, not ours. Force has trumped debate and diplomacy.
Our language has been taken hostage. Words like patriotism, freedom, and democracy have been bound and gagged, forced to perform indecent acts through the abuse of slogans. Freedom will prevail. We are liberating Iraq. God bless America.
For many of us, the war on terror is not something that has been initiated outside our country, but inside our country as well. We wonder who to trust and what to believe.
I have always believed democracy is best practiced through its construction, not its completion -- a never-ending project where the windows and doors remain open, a reminder to never close ourselves off to the sensory impulses of eyes and ears alert toward justice. Walls are torn down instead of erected in a counter-intuitive process where a monument is not built but a home, in a constant state of renovation.
It was within this context of witnessing America at war and contemplating democracy that I accepted an invitation to deliver the commencement address to graduating seniors at the University of Utah on May 2, 2003. I was to receive an honorary doctorate degree in the humanities. Nothing could have meant more to me than to be recognized by my own school in my own town. They know who I am and who I am not. We share a history and history is always complicated. For me, personally, the stakes couldn't have been higher.
Before the speech, I had had the great pleasure of meeting with a group of graduating seniors. What I heard were mature voices, steady minds, speaking from a generation that had witnessed the beginning of two wars, Afghanistan and Iraq, while students at the university. They were not interested in ideas or language that polarized people: Christianity vs. Islam; republicans vs. democrats; Mormons vs. non-Mormons; wilderness vs. development. They talked about alternatives, solutions, how to speak a language that opens hearts rather than closes them. These students were acutely aware of complexities and hesitant to take sides before considering all the evidence.
I had fifteen minutes to speak from my heart to these young people on their graduation day. My heart was pounding.
Click here to read the complete essay...
Posted by at March 11, 2004 8:42 AM
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