AMERICAN CREED

In the film American Creed, Joe Maddon, David M. Kennedy and Condoleezza Rice say that they value their identity as a person and their family as well as the community that they have. All three of them think that we should nurture and build together a community where people, especially children, are able to express themselves. I believe that the American creed of these three people are important because many of us have experienced something similar or at least that is the case with me. I also believe that it is important because we need to be able to understand it in order to be able to understand people and live in unity. 

The American creed is not defined by a single definition, rather definitions created by those who stand for a belief. Joe Maddon was one of them. He believed that having a sense of identity will help aid in the creation of something that will help bring people together to live a more fulfilling life. When people do come together with a common goal they will forget all the boundaries that keep them away from each other and create a better environment for children and future generations. This is the Maddon American creed for a reason; as a child he watched how his father always came back home covered in black. He saw how it was hard for his father to work as a plumber so he did not want it to be hard for him like it is for his father and grandfather. As a result of watching his father, he grew up to become a manager for the Chicago Cubs where he is able to see the unity of people from different backgrounds to watch and cheer for a  team they all support. He strives to have a community where we can be ourselves and will work together to create an environment for ourselves and future generations. 

Unlike Maddon who’s creed is to have a better community where everyone can be themselves, David M. Kennedy believes that if we have freedom of speech, religion and opportunity we are free to be anything we strive to be. Kennedy’s father as well had suffered. He had lost a part of himself that Kennedy never got to see. His father's relatives describe him as a sunny and upbeat person when he was young but because of the Great Depression his father, who had just gotten married, was experiencing a psychological breakdown just like all the men who had gone bankrupt. The Great Depression had crushed all his dreams to provide his newly wed wife a good life as well as any other men that lost their jobs. Men felt shame in losing their jobs as well as guilt towards their family because of the systematic breakdown yet they never thought of questioning the economy. What I'm trying to say by sharing the story of Kennedy is that the economy does not change often; it sometimes leads us to think that we are at fault like it made many men believe during the Great Depression and even times when it just ignores the people. So as long as we have our freedom we are able to change and speak in order to create a better or at the least improve the economy to our favor. I say this because the economy won’t ever change until we do something about it.  

Condolezza Rice, a professor at Stanford University, is an example of how she did not forget that there are still people in need of help in order to live a better life. Rice grew up in a good environment and followed her grandfather's steps to give back to the community. Condolezza said that being American is to be able to move forward towards what you want to be and still remember where you have come from, to remember your roots. It is important to remember where you come from because it ties us to our roots and appreciates where we come from while being proud of how far we have come. This is important because it is what keeps us from forgetting our experiences. Being able to remember where you come from is important because you won’t look down on other people and instead will help or do so something in order to help them succeed in having a better future just like how she has become a professor in order to give back to the community and follow what her grandfather did when he had built a school for the children. 

To conclude, the creeds of each person should be like a principle we should follow after or at least keep in mind. I believe that these three American creeds are of the utmost importance in order to create a more peaceful life not for ourselves only but for others too. We should keep in mind that we should make an effort for unity with a community to make a better environment for us now and for the future generations. We must not forget that we are in control of our lives, that our freedom gives us the right to control the economy and not the economy control us. We must not forget where we come from because our experience should help us to keep control of our decisions and not forget about others. After all Rice says. “Faith matters, family matters, and community matters.”