WHITMAN AND AMERICA

Maybe because it cooled off. It was actually in the 60's this morning when I went out to fetch the morning paper. And I lingered. Maybe because of the Autumnal Equinox. But I've noticed a change in people today.

In fact I'm reminded of a Walt Whitman poem. And not much ever reminds me of Walt Whitman. Oh, I had to teach him in American Lit., but I didn't dwell on him at all. I did that with a lot of literature. How about the lit I liked? Oh, I saturated them in it. Did it make them appreciate it any more? Did it turn them into avid readers? Hopefully. But if it didn't you have to blame it all on my old profs who made me devour literature that I didn't like and couldn't understand. Just because Prof Vieth got his Ph.D. on the Earl of Rochester, did I really have to submerge myself in his arcane and sublime references and footnotes to explain his obscure allusions? Oh well, I survived, but possibly warped a few high school minds as a result of my tutelage.

As I was saying, when all the matter of truth got in the way, as Robert Frost might have said,

today I noticed people a little less serious, a little lighter of step. It is almost like the first day of Spring weather warm up or thaw in the Midwest and East after a long, too long Winter. Only reversed. After a Long Hot Summer as Faulkner once said. But back to Whitman.

He wrote, "I hear America singing, Her varied carols I hear..." He continues talking about Americans enjoying their jobs and, if not whistling while they work, singing.

All sorts of jobs. People were happy working, happy to be alive. I don't see that much anymore. I hear a lot of grumbling. In newspapers and magazines, I read about how bad things are. But when people are happy, and at work like the man in the picture, it just puts you in a good mood.

Maybe it's just me after a good round of golf today, almost a hole-in-one, almost an eagle on a par 4 on my third favorite course in the valley. Maybe because my Cardinals played a decent game yesterday winning in the ninth inning of a meaningless game. Maybe because I'm happy to be alive.

Whatever it is, I could take a lot more of it. A lot more often. Now listen carefully to see if you hear America singing.