Seeing the beauty of America through the eyes of a veteran
As I have gotten older one thing has stood out to me is that 98% of the news broadcasts in either print or television is about the bad things that are happening in our country and in the rest of the world. It seems I have “lost” that America I knew as a boy growing up in the South. Lost were the feelings of belonging to a neighborhood or community. Things had gotten busy for most of us and it seemed bad things were happening all over the country.
I have traveled in my lifetime to many parts of America and the world and always coming back it gives one an appreciation of how good our nation is. I lived in Alaska over fifteen years traveling all over that State and saw firsthand the America I knew was out there. I think over time and as things got compressed in our society, America in the media at least, seemed to have lost many of the things that Americans have held dear to their hearts over the years. Where did it go? Did we as a society get lost along our way on Life’s Highway? With all the crime, gang violence, politics, and the failed economy did we lose ourselves in the great American society?
I see the plight of the homeless, veterans, education of our children and the disillusionment of the American people. The healthcare system is failing, the courts have become a joke at times and we seem to have lost our way. I want to find those places once again that I know are the real America the Beautiful.
The great American experience is about so many things which many Americans have seemed to forget: bluegrass music and beaches, snow-covered peaks and redwood forests, restaurant-loving cities, little hole in the wall mom and pop stores and big open skies.
When I was young long before the Interstate highways were completed my family traveled the ‘blue highways’ on the roadmap. There were the sultry swamplands of the South along with cotton and tobacco fields, the white sand beaches in Florida, the road led past red-rock deserts in the Southwest, the lush rainforests of the Pacific Northwest. The majesty of the towering mountain peaks or open spaces of fertile wheat fields that roll from horizon to horizon in the Midwestern part of the country. The sun-bleached hillsides of the Great Plains and the scenic country lanes of New England and the Atlantic seashore are all parts of the American experience that many people may or may not have seen in their lifetime. There are the major cities and popular tourist attractions but there are many lesser known places along the backroads and far out places. These are the forgotten places, small shops, restaurants, and abandoned sites often get passed by because they are seemingly meaningless. But you never know when you could be missing out on the chance to discover a hidden gem among what appears to be a stretch of nothingness.
History is all around us on various levels. It is the large events, the greater than life people, the social movements. History is also the people whose names we will never know, people seeking better lives or people just living. We can touch history by opening our eyes and looking at our neighbors differently. We have to be willing to ask "who are you and tell me about your life." We need to listen.
During the turmoil of my generation during the Viet Nam era there was so much unrest about the war, politicians, and on the school campuses across the country that many veterans saw the ugly side of the American people. It lasted for many years and those scars have run deep within the veteran communities across the country. Times have changed and Americans are making an effort to this latest generation of veterans to have social programs and better mental healthcare than before but there is still so much more that is needed for this community. Homelessness, jobs, and proper medical care for veterans are other areas in which improvement is still needed.
During that time period of America’s unrest was a television program called “On the Road” with Charles Kuralt who told the stories about the common people in our country. He wrote stories of the quirky things and people he and his two crew found along the way.
This is the America I want to find once again, for myself and to share the experience with others. I want to write and take photographs of small town America, of the people I come to meet along the way sharing their stories and renew that ‘once was’ feeling I had many years ago. To visit and share the National Parks and Monuments that many may never have the chance to visit firsthand. I think America needs and wants to feel that way again.
Thanks for listening.
D. Whittington