Which America Do I Live In?

I remember on one Independence Day a number of years ago thinking to myself, "What is it that is that makes the United States worth celebrating?" At the time, I was going through a period of serious disillusionment about all things American, in particular the rampant commercial materialism of the mainstream...definitely not a culture I felt connected to. If that was the America we were celebrating, what was all the fuss about? One of the major reasons I had been living in the small mountain resort I was at was to get away from the materialist mainstream of America. But then I considered a different question: Where else in the world could I be doing what I was? Where did I have the opportunity to live pretty much any way I pleased in the high Rocky Mountains with a community of people who had more or less the same outlook? I don't think there are many other places like that. What struck me at that point was that the real America is not the government and its foreign policy, not about the material wealth, not about the Hollywood image and most definitely not about being better than the rest of the world. Its about the fact that the country is so big and varied that it has the room for people like me to have our little unique corner within it. In the midst of a contentious election with implications for the entire world and with the world getting smaller every day, it's sometimes hard to remember that. It can be even harder if you live in one of the big cities. But I almost never drive on that congested freeway. Even here in Denver, where everything is very auto-oriented, I can go two weeks without starting my car. I live close to the college I'm attending, groceries are down the block and most of my travel is done by bike or bus. And sometimes its strange listening to other folks complain about traffic. So I don't live in George Bush's America. Nor do I live in Oprah Winfrey's America. Or in the America of any other so-called governmental or cultural representative broadcast about the world. I live in my own America. And there are a lot of people like me, and a lot of them aren't like me at all. That's what independence and freedom are really about. And I hope that idea doesn't get lost in all the confusing shrubbery of our present government.