American Creed

In the PBS documentary American Creed with historian David M. Kennedy and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, many of the participants in the film all shared one common concern. This concern was the idea that America is becoming severely separated from itself. As U.S. Marine veteran, Tegan Griffith stated, “Americans are becoming further disconnected from each other, communities are being torn apart.” This is a huge concern all across the United States because we are all supposed to be united as a country, as stated in the Pledge of Allegiance. However it is extremely rare to hear of schools that still say the Pledge of Allegiance each day. Kids today rely so much on technology that they don’t even know what it is like to work with other students, the same goes for adults too.

America today seems to be so focused on politics and not on American culture. In a PBS interview on “Conversation with Jeff Weeks for WSRE,” Griffith stated, “Generally people in rural areas are not included in these political conversations, but when involved the conversations tend to be tense and fast, making them difficult to understand.” While almost everything in American is based around politics, many secluded and small rural communities are often left out of political conversations. This is a problem because in a democracy, which is a people's’ government. The people are supposed to have a voice. However, many of these small rural communities are excluded from these important political conversations.

As the film argues, America is slowly becoming separated. In the film, Condoleezza Rice stated, “Americans are becoming more and more selfish, they tend to only think of what is better for them or what benefits them best.” I believe that these selfish people will either be isolated from the rest of the people and will not experience the benefits of achieving the American Dream through the tolerance of other people's views and aspirations.

Today, one often sees communities coming together to help one another, but specifically when communities are in time of need. Take the disastrous fires in Oklahoma and Texas two years ago, farmers and ranchers got in their trucks and hauled tons of hay, fencing supplies, and everyday necessities across America to help out those is need. Hundreds of Americans returned the favor last year when most of eastern Montana burned up from treacherous wildfires.

Being part of America is a great privilege. In America, anyone and everyone, through hard work and dedication, can accomplish anything they want. We can achieve these goals with the freedom we have in America but also with equal opportunity. One might struggle towards achieving a goal because it is impossible to do most things alone. There is always someone who helped you get where you are at, whether it be one of your high school teachers, a parent, or someone you don’t even know from your community. I believe to be successful you must have positive and even negative interactions with others from the community.