Seeking Safety in an Insecure World…that pretty much says it all for me when it come to how I feel about how our sense of community has been deteriorating decade by decade. This reading was truly insightful for me in showing me that the people who can afford to escape our so-called American communities will do so in a heart beat simply because they feel a true sense of community is overrated. To be honest I do not blame them one bit. The comparison to Don Juan really legitimizes the actions of people who live such a lifestyle. Why would you settle in one place if you can enjoy the benefits of jumping from one location to another while basking in the glory of each location along the way. All this is is a result of a globalized economy and it is truly sad that people would rather escape from a sense of community than contribute to it. But it is a sacrifice that many people are willing to make and they are so willing to do so because the notion of a truly secured and pleasant community is eroding under the feet of all Americans as we speak.
As far as the reading on public walls and private rights go I feel like the last two sentences sum it up for me; “Diseases, drugs, ignorance, and selfishness, once set loose, spread. You really can’t fence them in, or out. From the onset of our infant nation we have struggled with guaranteeing citizens the rights that were set forth in the constitution. That is the true struggle of a democracy. The hardest part of having a democratic nation is keeping every voice happy no matter how small it may be because if that voice is strong enough it will spread like wild fire. I am too young to know the hard work that our ancestors put in to create such a great country but I know that most of them are rolling over in their graves at the sight of our economy. The past is indeed repeating itself and it is up to our generation to learn from these mistakes and try to actually create a country where everyone feels they are given the rights which they deserve. That is going to be a challenge that might not ever be met but as a free nation we must at least try to do that or we will have failed miserably. What will hold us back the most and what I learned from this reading is that sometimes our own neighbors are willing to demolish each others rights in hopes of their own economic gains and relinquishing that threat will be an enormous triumph.
Ashley N