more from my favorite radio show

I just finished listening to this episode of This American Life. In it Sarah Vowell goes on a road trip with her sister along the Trail of Tears. Wikipedia tells us that "The Trail of Tears refers to the forced relocation in 1838 of the Cherokee Native American tribe to the Western United States, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 4,000 Cherokees."

Like many other Americans, Sarah and her sister are part Cherokee. Being at least a little Cherokee in northeastern Oklahoma is about as rare and remarkable as being a Michael Jordan fan in Chicago, she says on the show.

Towards the end of the hour Sarah talks to one of her uncles, and she realizes how deeply impacted by history his life has been. He didn't go to school past third grade because he had to help support his family. And then came the depression, and then the war.

Contemplating her own life, Sarah Vowell comments that she herself is "free of history". I have to get in a car and drive seven states to find it, she says. History has no natural place in her life.

Compared to other cultures, American culture is future oriented. That means that people live their lives with their eyes on the horizon. They define themselves by their plans for the future rather than by their history. The future is simply more important to them than the past. Sarah Vowell's remarks reflect that. Even though she has a strong interest in history, history does not have a presence in her culture.

Oftentimes this attitude is stronger among people who define themselves as white, or whose ancestry is mixed to the point where they don't really identify with any single group. People who identify as Black, Chicano, Jewish, or Japanese American, just to name a few, usually have a stronger sense of history. For them it's easier to see how the history of their people have helped shape their lives today.

The United States is highly individualistic. That means that we have been trained to believe in free will and the power of the individual. We are hellbent on feeling in control, and having our choices matter. That attitude makes it hard to see that our lives are indeed also shaped by circumstances beyond our control. And, that our lives are connected to the lives of people who we have never met.

In reality all of us are just as inscribed in history as Sarah Vowell's uncle, or any other person on the face of the earth. Habits, norms, and life circumstances are handed down to us. The misfortunes, or opportunities, we may have today are often the direct results of decisions made by those who came before us.

Those of us who are not Black, Chicano, Japanese American, or Jewish, are still affected by what happened to those groups. We are all caught in the same web. We may be sitting at different corners of it, but it's still the same web.

For that reason I think it would be helpful if we could broaden our perspective a little. Taking an inclusive approach to history would mean that we would realize that we don't have to be part Cherokee to be influenced by the Trail of Tears. We shouldn't have to be Japanese American to be affected by the internment of people of Japanese descent during the second world war. The Civil Rights Movement did not concern African Americans only. All of these things are part of American history. It affects all of us. It may not affect us in the same way, but it is the history that belongs to all of us.

And then maybe we can use some of that free will to decide on how we are going to let future be shaped by what we have learned.