“Define a nation.” As I made my way into class last week — sweaty, out of breath and cursing the desert heat — this was the question written on the board.
As a group, we were reeling in curiosity and truly engaged in one of those higher-level-of-thinking discussions.
The kind that you see in movies about college where Kevin Spacey is the witty professor and everyone in the room actually contributes to the conversation and subsequently might leave with some fragment of a question on their tongue.
Despite our attempts, we never really managed to come up with a solid definition. Our teacher then asked us to define America, and, still, we had trouble producing adequate words.
As soon as we thought we had it nailed down, someone would come out of left field with one of those existential-question-raising statements or offer some new insight and we’d be right back where we started.
As you can see, I’m still wrestling with my own definition.
Is a nation simply the developable land that falls between boundaries on a map or as deemed by some U.N. resolution? Or is it something more — something not so tangible — a commonality amongst the people, a shared culture, a collective set of guidelines, morals, ideals?
We can be called on to die for it, so why can’t we define it?
Now that most of us are waking up from the American dream with broken hopes and empty pockets, our national identity is slightly different and darker than that of 10 years ago.
A people that used to come together over football on Sundays and barbecues in the backyard and buying cars on credit cards is now in the throes of depression.
Popular opinion is that it’s not getting better any time soon, either.
How does that old saying go? “You live to fight another day;” is this perhaps what makes us American, our innate desire to grab ourselves by the proverbial bootstraps and climb the ladder, rise to the top?
Or is it just that we all have one thing in common: a doomed and debt-ridden future? Hunter S. Thompson once wrote, “America ... just a nation of 200 hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.”
Before I let this go in another direction, I’d like to believe that Dr. Gonzo was wrong and that we are the nation of nations, the “melting-pot,” the crossroads of the world; but can I be so sure?
The state’s immigration law certainly isn’t welcoming. (It’s like our entire state is wearing a "members only" jacket and has the smug attitude to match.)
Look to the news; Palestine recently submitted an application for full statehood status and membership of the United Nations that will potentially be denied if it is unable to reach the majority nine of 15 votes.
The application is scrutinized against a “criteria for statehood.”
Luckily, for my purposes, these words will not be put under the dissection of the U.N. and even so, it doesn’t sound like they are much closer than my class was to really attributing any absolute definition.
Regardless of your national identity, patriotic spirit or lack thereof — next time you’re asked to pinpoint a nation on the map, read between the lines.
Join the conversation. Reach the columnist at Bkarris@asu.edu
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