AMERICAN SOUL SEARCHING CONTINUES

The American soul is elusive.

One time it’s here, the next time it’s there.

More than one searcher has found it, only to discover what others have:

“They are wrong.”

Deep down, further down recently, America stands as the best of mankind.

So far.

But that’s also in question. The best what?

Today I’ll call America the last best place to overcome the fears and persecution known in other nations.

Just so you know, I do read the news and keep up. There is an underbelly here that rivals any underbelly anywhere, but that’s another post.

So save the pollyanna-vision comments.

This is the face I took with me while I looked for the American soul in the early-80’s.

I took it with me to college, the Army, Philadelphia, Eugene, Delaware, New York, and lastly Portland.

Just a guy in his twenties out looking around for that American soul.

I looked on the hitchhiking road, on the bus, on a bike, in a car.

Paul Simon taps it with his American Tune:

I don’t know a soul who’s not been battered
I don’t have a friend who feels at ease
I don’t know a dream that’s not been shattered
Or driven to its knees

But it’s alright, it’s alright
For we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
Road we’re traveling on
I wonder what’s gone wrong
I can’t help it, I wonder what has gone wrong

What’s Gone Wrong With The American Soul?

You ever ask yourself what’s gone wrong? If not, at least not yet, I’ll tell you:

Life gets messy.

Real messy. And it’s the best mess of American soul ever found.

One moment you’re in the cafeteria of One Battery Park Plaza eating lunch by the windows overlooking Hudson Bay, Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty.

You’re thinking about your work buddies warning about getting friendly with the girls they knew all speaking Italian at another table.

Then one of them floats over to your table asking what you’re doing this weekend and your buddies start waving red flags.

The next moment you’re on a stage under a rain-cover in Sandy, Oregon dressed in the same morning coat Prince Charles wore at his wedding.

You are there with your bride, the two of you just married.

It was a glorious muddy mess and 101% all American soul.

Whatever has gone wrong, getting married went right.

But what kind of married is good for the American soul?

The kind that talks things out, looks for common ground; the kind that serves as a foundation to build on.

Most of all the search for the American soul is about trust and commitment; it’s about love, the long lasting love built in a joined family.

If you’ve ever felt that, then you’ve found your American soul.

Wait, there’s more than one?