When I was a kid, I used to belong to a club known as the Boys Brotherhood Republic or the BBR. It's the same place that sponsored my trips to Camp Wabenaki each summer from 1974-1978 and the first place to employ me (I was a camp counselor from 1979-1982).
What was unique about this club was that it was self-governing. Unlike the Boys Club of New York, every year we elected a Mayor, eight councilmen, a city clerk, comptroller, a judge and a prosecuting attorney. Every BBR "citizen" paid annual dues of about $1 or so, and performed a weekly duty as a police officer to enforce the clubs laws. Get into a fight, curse someone out, you get arrested and go to trial. Defendants were always represented by an BBR citizen lawyer, who had to pass a written test and an examination before the bar. There was even a code of conduct:
YOUNG PEOPLE'S
Bill of Responsibilities
To My Country, My Parents,
and Myself -- That I May:
1. Honor my parents, my elders, and my teachers.
2. Take care of my body, mind, and spirit.
3. Improve myself through education, in preparation for the future.
4. Perform my work to the best of my ability.
5. Develop high moral principles and the courage to live by them.
6. Grow in character and ability as I grow in size.
7. Respect the rights and feelings of others.
8. Be honest with myself and others in what I say and do.
9. Set a good example so others may enjoy and profit by my company.
10. Obey the laws of society and live in harmony with others.
11. Preserve and support our American way of life and the government of our people.
What's remarkable about this club is that there were no political parties. None. There were no interest groups that voted on a single-issue basis. There was no concern about the color of one's skin or what faith they chose to follow. We were only citizens.
These days, in a world where "othering" another American citizen for political gain is the rule, I was reminded of the BBR ideal I learned many years ago. It was my misinterpretation of this post put up by FranIAm that got me thinking about this subject. The point of her post was to showcase an interview of Martin Sheen by the Catholic legal scholar Douglas Kmiec on Barack Obama. I took it to mean that she was voting "as a Catholic".
That wasn't the point of her post though, and I apologized letting her know that I am both an idealist and a pessimist when it comes to the way we Americans constantly hyphenate our identities.
But in writing this, I felt I needed to let her know what drives my passion for us to be one people, no hyphens, just Americans -- like Fran, and Martin, and Douglas, and Jerry Stiller, a Jewish kid from the Lower East Side who was also a BBR boy.
That was a very moving video. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAs for misunderstanding - no worries, we all misunderstand. It is that we keep talking that matters, no?
That's what I think anyway.
And honestly I do vote in many ways as a Catholic- I bring my conscience and my faith to what I do. However, I do not take what is told me to as holy writ - I use my Catholic knowledge and education and my informed conscience.
So I very much vote as a Catholic - although that definition does not fit the main stream path, does it?
Catholic means universal - something often sadly lost.
So for me it does not have to be a bad thing as it defines really everything about me.
As I see it, we all come from who/where we are... Loaisaida, the boogie down BX (home of yankees, zoo and birthplace of franiam), the south, the midwest, another country.
Catholic, Jew, Lutheran, Muslim, Atheist- whatever.
We are our families and our parents, but we are each our own expression of that.
I have no issue with starting from those places, but how and where do we grow out and meet up with others... that is the question.
Which is very much a NYC kind of story isn't it... Jews,Irish, Puerto Ricans, Italians and more - all becoming one in some wacky and wonderful way.
Thank you dear Spartacus, thank you. My life is enriched by knowing you!
Nice post, Spartacus.
ReplyDeleteFRANIAM/SPARTACUS: That's exactly why I self identify as "NEOYORQUINO"
ReplyDeleteMy favorite definition of American is still from Stripes, that we're mutants, mutts, loyal, lovable, all that jazz.
ReplyDeleteFran... thanks. You're right, we are a product of our environments and upbringing. But if there's anything I learned from the BBR and from Ralph Hittman is that none of that matters when you focus on being human first, ignoring one's race, creed, and religion. Same here... Fran. I've known you for over a year now and it's as if I've known and loved you forever. :^)
ReplyDeleteThanks PiNYC. If you ever get the chance, check out the full "A Gang of Good" video. This place is the genesis of my politicall upbringing.
Kelso... we are peas in the same pod bro. But isn't great how far we've come from those streets?
Randal.. That's the fact, Jack!
I prefer my official label as Alien because that's exactly how I've been feeling the past few years.
ReplyDeleteSusan... okay, you get a pass. But know that I also wish for a day where we on this Earth regard ourselves as humans first, then by some group identity second. If I had to write this post over that's what I would say.
ReplyDeleteI am such a mutt that I never identified with any one ethnic group. I'm french/irish/russian/jewish/roman catholic who married a African/American Indian man who was a Baptist!
ReplyDeleteCan I hear an Oh Lordy!!
our son at about 7 or 8 was asked (by an idiot but that's a different story) what he "was" - his response - "human, what are you?"
I hope it's OK if I digress a bit - in the video Jerry said something that made me ache and brought tears to my eyes. "It's something to see where you've come from. Makes you wonder if you could do it again"
I think about that a lot what with all my projects on hold and my clients getting laid off.
And I think a lot of us are thinking that and those thoughts are, in part, what is contributing to the anxiety and ugliness around us.
I am adament in my conviction to not let it get the best of me. We all do better when we work together.
Dianne... considering that the genetic root of modern day humans stems from the plains of Africa, it's safe to say that we're all part of the same human family or we're all mutts, depending on your perspective. Your son seems to have gotten it right. We're all human; nothing more.
ReplyDeleteI hear you on Jerry Stiller's comment in the video. I met him years ago when I was at Camp. He was a regular there with his wife Anne Meara. He's as genuine in person as he is in the viddie. I believe he'd express your sentiments about the need to work together.
'Americans constantly hyphenate our identities'
ReplyDeleteGees, I can't be a Beer-American anymore? Gosh darn it...... It always made me hoppy to be a 'Real Beer-American.'
(i'ld be a doughnut-American, but I think there are already too many of them.)
Oh, lordy, to Dianne. I'm an Eastern European Jew, go figure. But when we think of catholic (lower case) it means universal, as opposed to Catholic, which is a religion.
ReplyDeleteStill, I'd prefer to be a Mutt, and celebrate Festivus, for the rest of us.
I'm loving that list. It makes me painfully aware that we've reduced ourselves (by way of the reduction of that kind of list) to simply: keep your hands and feet to yourself which, of course, is meaningless without the reasons in your list to suggest why we might want to keep our hands and feet to ourselves. Hmm. Maybe I ought to spend less time in Fairfield County traffic.
ReplyDeleteSPARTACUS: It only sounds really dumb because of the way people divide up there. Down here, because the dispersion of names isn't so large people always distinguish one person with the same first name from another by "negro" "blanco" "judio" "chino" "muslaman" "gay" "trigueno" and so on. I've got a variation on a well-known bible name and the Spanish pronunciation is similar for the three or four of us who play poker at the same place with the same bible name that people might distinguish me from the other ones as "neoyourquino," or "judio" or "blanco". No political correctness stuff needed because no real divisions by those kinds of categories. Even the social classes mix more here than they do up there. The big gulf is between "Citadinos" and "los del interior". City/Country basically. They don't mix at all.
ReplyDeleteokjimm... how about being an American beer drinker, in the way that Michael Phelps is an American gold medalist swimmer? And, if your blog posts are any indication, it seems to me that you can add gold medalist to your imbibing of fine malt beverages.
ReplyDeleteDiva... if we're going to take a world view of race, no one is a mutt. We all stem from the same African ancestors who climbed down from the trees in the African savannas and populated the Earth.
Alecto... I guess we all take from that list what we will. I see it for what it is: that we owe it to ourselves to try and live in harmony with the world, our families, and ourselves.
Kelso...I don't see using nicknames to distinguish ourselves from one person to the next is perfectly fine with me. In fact, the two coaches in the picture were notorious for coming up with names for the guys on the team. My name was John-John. Next to me was Mousy (who became Kenny "Mouse" McFadden star guard for Cleveland State's '88 NCAA Elite-8 tournament team). Number 13 was called Papote, number 32 was Stretch, and the kid far left was Erky.
But it's the group names that irk me because, even if innocently applied, makes an unnecessary human distinction that leads to the kinds of prejudice and mistrust we have now. That this has existed for years in understandable because oceans, rivers and mountains made it virtually impossible to achieve an understanding of universal understanding. Not so today with the level and sophistication of instant communication available. We can get past this nonsense. We now have the tools, if only we'd use them.
Miss Contrary (or would that be Contrary-American????) here again.
ReplyDeleteI have followed this comment thread and have resisted commenting again, but here I am.
Is this it- that we can see ***-American as a way of narrowing or reducing ourselves? I can see that.
However, I think that ***-American can also be like spices in a recipe, they give flavor when they mix and contribute to one another.
I am big on unity- oh please, it is a big goal, but I think that the distinctions can be used for good.
Perhaps it is that way in Panama - many flavors, con sabor.
It is not that one is stated just to differentiate and to shun, but to make its contribution.
Personally I am 1/2 Irish, 1/4 Italian, 1/4 Eastern European Jew, raised Catholic in an entirely Italian-American neighborhood with deep Irish-American influences. Culturally I identify heavily with Jews, but now I live in a very white bread suburban area.
I guess I am saying that our distinctions are not the issue, but how we view them. If they are used to reject - that is bad.
I think what you are saying Spartacus is the same thing with different language- how can we stop dividing.
That said, I do think that we need to continue to have a world of diverisity- and by that I mean a diversity of thought and opinion too.
If we all thought exactly the same thing, blogs and comment threads like this would not exist!
OK, I will shut my mouth now.
OK- I started to write that comment about 30 minutes ago, got interrupted and came back to it without seeing what you added Spartacus!!
ReplyDeleteFran... thank you for that distinction. Perhaps I wasn't clear about my meaning in the sense in which I expressed my desire to ditch the hyphenated name conventions that we have used for good and have been used by other to divide. I never meant it to mean that we cannot bring our cultural difference into play, and I apologize for the unintentional implication.
ReplyDeleteWe are the products of our environment and, therefore, can only carry that viewpoint into our thoughts and expressions. It's only natural. My concern and the source of my angst is when these differences create "unbroachable" lines of demarcation that, in my view, cultivate the seeds of distrust and fear.
Fran, don't you dare shut your mouth on this point. Now, more than ever, the world needs your voice of reason and clarity. Really, thanks for making the distinction on this issue that my original post did not.
I wish we could all agree on a goal and everyone work toward that goal. There is too much me and not nearly enough us.
ReplyDeleteI share your wish PoP.
ReplyDelete