The+American,+The+Individual?

** The American, ** **The Individual? **

//**Is it a bad thing?**// "An' I got thinkin', on'y it wasn't thinkin', it was deeper down than thinkin'. I got thinkin' how we was holy when we was one thing, an' mankin' was holy when it was one thing. An it on'y got unholy when one thing, an' mankin' was holy when it was one thing. An' it on'y got unholy when one mis'able little fella got the bit in his teeth an' run off his own way, kickin' an' draggin' an' fightin'." -from John Steinbeck's //The Grapes of Wrath//, p. 81 Free speech is the right to shout ‘Theatre!’ in a crowded fire. - [|Abbie Hoffman]

//**Is it a good thing?**// "Individual liberty is individual power, and as the power of a community is a mass compounded of individual powers, the nation which enjoys the most freedom must necessarily be in proportion to its numbers the most powerful nation." -John Quincy Adams [|A. Hoffman photo link]    “Whoso would be a man, must be nonconformist. He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness, but must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world.” from Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self Reliance"       **I Hear America Singing** Those of mechanics--each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong; The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work; The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat--the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck; The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench--the hatter singing as he stands; The wood-cutter's song--the ploughboy's, on his way in the morning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown; The delicious singing of the mother--or of the young wife at work--or of the girl sewing or washing--Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else; The day what belongs to the day--At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly, Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs.

"the object is not to have one's way so much as it is to have a way of one's own..." -Tom Hayden, "Port Huron Statement," p.52  

[|"Solitude"]

Reflection on American Individuals

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