Ashley Murphy, Blog 7

Lately I have been contemplating how my next semester is going to be: spending it in Spain away from everyone I'm familiar with and away from familiarity. I think what I am most worried about is coming off as a "dumb American", someone who disregards the views of others and is obnoxious and abrasive. Of course, I know I'm not usually like this, but I'm worried I may unintentionally come off in this manner. Although nationalism did not begin in America perhaps, starting during the French Revolution when the idea of the nation-state was tied to inclusiveness and language, Americans have a very strong sense of the national identity.

The Post 9/11 Era has defined my generation. I can remember sitting in fourth grade reading class as my teacher wheeled a television in the room because, "we needed to see what was going on." I didn't quite comprehend what was occurring, didn't know at first this was happening in my country, what terrorism was, what Al-Qaeda was. When I returned home, things were still unclear. To this day, I can't fathom why a group of people would act on their hatred in such a way. Although this tragedy happened, it pulled us together. Not only that, it pulled the international community, as other nations sympathized with us.

In the Maya Lin documentary, she tried to portray our struggle during the Vietnam War in an objective way. She wanted every American, and I think every citizen of this world, to be able to reflect on the loss of war and how it is somewhat of an externality, affecting those that are not directly involved. Her memorial was able to emotionally affect everyone that laid eyes on it.