And, yet, compared to my kids, and grandkids, I have connections to my older, cultural heritage. I actually remember those relatives that were born in the 19th century, listened to their stories, and picked up the flavor of their lives.
And, yet, thanks to a father who left WV at a young age, and re-located in Cleveland, OH, I retain only a tenuous connection to that part of my family. My mother's parents moved to FL when I was about 10, for good, and only returned for occasional visits. My memories of them are still strong and vivid, unlike my younger brothers and sisters, who knew them primarily through photos.
America has always had its share of people with wanderlust - the unrooted folks, who pushed across the country, restlessly moving into new environments, only to leave again once the place acquired permanence.
Some of them were escaping legal or other accountability, disinclined to follow social restrictions on behavior, men with PTSD after wars or other calamities, or those used to hustling the unsuspecting for a quick buck - then scooting out of reach before being caught.
Others tried a move west, hoping for opportunity. Some succeeded, making good in their fresh start. Others, bringing with them the factors that were responsible for their earlier lack of success, failed once again.
Once in that new location, these Western settlers were able to jettison many of the traditional restraints on social behaviors. They mingled freely with the new neighbors - mixing cultures, social classes, and religious traditions. Eventually, that new culture developed around their new combined heritage.
Other settlers, those that landed in less accessible terrain (such as the Appalachians), didn't experience that cultural mix. They retained a deep connection to their family/kin heritage, and resisted influences that weakened those ties. In those cultures, the cosmopolitan influences failed to permeate until the spread of television, and the bland media culture crept in. It may not be a coincidence that the so-called hillbilly community began to disintegrate rapidly as the mass media drove a wedge between the generations. Current generations are more influenced by Duck Dynasty and other shows than Granny and Paw-Paw.
Conversely, although the new media, and the internet, COULD allow people to connect across cultures, perhaps surprisingly - they largely DON'T. Instead, the majority of connections are:
- To the distant past - Ancestry.com (one of the fastest growing trends is use of DNA relation matches to re-connect with long-lost branches of the family tree)
- To the recent past - friends from childhood, school, old sweethearts
- FaceTime and other live-video media - to those separated from home/family/friends - an opportunity to re-fresh that connection, despite distance
- Instagram, SnapChat - using pictures to retain that connection, even when in other company
- LinkedIn - business connections with those known in the past
- Matchmaking sites - for those from cultures that arrange marriages, these provide the ability to widen the pool of choices, yet satisfy the desire to guide the young into appropriate cultural connections
- Classmates.com - whether far from home, or just want to re-visit the past, this is your site
I don't really know what all this means for America's future. I do know that the hunger for connection, and a dogged willingness to spend large amounts of time finding and retaining those connections, is a major driving force for people of all ages.
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1 comment:
It's an intriguing analogy.
When I graduated from college I found myself living in a Detroit suburb. After moving in, I went to the other 11 apartment units in the building, wanting to introduce myself. Of the people who answered their doors over the week-plus time I made the effort, most were neutral-to-hostile; only one, really, my cop neighbor, accepted my outreach.
The first year we moved into our house, I made a Bailey's Irish Cream Cheesecake and brought them to our neighbors for Christmas. This was, to them, utterly astonishing. Even now, we don't really know our neighbors (though one was, when my snowblower broke, very helpful in doing my driveway for me... refusing money, I nonetheless wrote a card and gave a gift certificate to a local restaurant).
But definitely, we've lost roots and a sense of community / commonality.
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