Your American Journey

Coming Together to Face this Century's Challenges

A Quick Overview

In uncertain, polarized times, it is critical for Americans to find, and mend, bridges to each other. ‘Your American Journey’ is one such proposed approach to build bridges, leveraging iconic American spaces. These specific ideas presented here on the theme of ‘Your American Journey’ are copylefted so that anyone willing to run with them can do so- some goals are greater than the individual.

Many thanks to Jesse Brackenbury at The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, for being open to my ideas and for providing the spark that inspired this.

Part II, which provides salient thoughts to pique intrepid minds further, is available here.

Your American Journey

You are at the Statue of Liberty, or Ellis Island, and you get to reflect upon Your American Journey, and then record your thoughts on it at these iconic locations.

Would you do it?

You could revisit your thoughts on Your American Journey each year, or the next time you visit an iconic American location, or once a decade.

You could record stream-of-consciousness content about your journey, or dig deep into ways America, and fellow Travelers/ Journeyers on their own American Journeys, have contributed to your journey.

Your American Pilgrimage

Your favorite celebrity hops into their vehicle with their family, takes a road trip over to The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, recording little videos of their journey for public, personal and ‘friends and family circle’ viewing. At the destination, they, and their family, record a video of their American Heritage- a personal account oirenvf their family’s journey to and in America, across the generations.

Your favorite celebrity could be Clint Eastwood, Oprah, Jason Aldean, Taylor Swift, Ellen, Eva Longoria, Kelsey Grammar, Jason Momoa, Kristy Swanson, Channing Tatum, Awkwafina, Ryan Reynolds, Mindy Kaling, Kanye- you name it.

Would you do it?

Would you share ways in which you, in ways big and small, contribute to America?

Would you engage with others on their American journey over themes and elements that would continue to build and sustain America?

On a more fun note, would you get onto a boat, to visit Ellis Island to watch Jason Aldean perform, or hear Sting sing 'Englishman In New York'?

I’d like to call this Your American Pilgrimage- speaking to contributions today, those that journeyed before, the environment that fed the journey.

Let’s step back for some context.

Note: Images generated with Canva and Microsoft AI tools

The Objective

Bring together Americans, across their self-described community lines, to engage with their own American journey, heritage and contributions, and with those of other Americans.

The Problem Statement- Why?

Americans today appear increasingly polarized, and fragmented, across many dimensions, including outlook, goals, expectations of America for themselves and as an advanced democracy, and the physical and digital spaces that they inhabit.

This is a problem for the functioning of society, and for America to sustain its role as a leader among nations.

As a contrarian viewpoint, some may argue that, despite the fragmentation and polarization, America remains a very successful enterprise- that it remains peerless among nations and continues to offer unparalleled opportunity to its citizens. Some me even point out that America’s ostensibly Darwinist model of success implies that polarization and fragmentation will continue to compete with alternatives, in response to current and emerging challenges in this century.

What do you think?

Among Many Options, Here’s One

In the spirit of supporting Darwinian alternatives to fragmentation and polarization, that would support American growth and preeminence, let’s look at one option to solve for fragmentation and polarization.

One pathway goes as follows:

American Spaces → Your American Journey → Your American Heritage → Your American Contributions → Engage with Fellow Americans

Would this be feasible?

Are there any American spaces (for starters, then American institutions and themes may follow) that encourage Americans to consider their American journey, American heritage and their contributions to America?

Are there ways for Americans to engage with other Americans over their American journey, American heritage and their contributions to America?

Zooming out- would this help in reducing fragmentation and polarization?

American Spaces

There are some iconic American spaces that make Americans connect with being American. Statue of Liberty in New York, Lincoln Memorial in D.C., Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and Mount Rushmore in South Dakota leap to mind. For many, Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon would also qualify as such an American Space that connects Americans with the American spirit.

There are also moments in time, like the Fourth of July, that function as an ‘American Space’, which may offer Americans opportunities to connect with their American Journey, heritage and contributions.

There’s More

This is a quick preview of some ways we begin to solve for American polarization and fragmentation. Clearly, there is a lot more involved. There are physical/ IRL and digital elements to this. The scale of collaboration is immense.

Some goals are bigger than the individual. These specific thoughts are presented here, and copylefted, to encourage you, dear reader, to share them further, and perhaps encourage someone to build on these further.

You are welcome to reach out to me for more. Find part II, which provides salient thoughts to pique intrepid minds further, here. Here’s to more conversations, and to the start of something better, bigger, higher.

Thank You

I met a couple of members of The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation team, a few weeks ago, at a brief talk by Jesse Brackenbury. It was heartwarming to see Jesse Brackenbury’s passion and commitment, and impressive to hear him talk about how he has leveraged his experiences into the plans in motion. The team’s openness to the questions, and the ideas shared- especially from me, a stranger, who was only becoming familiar with their mission and their challenges- was exemplary.

Their work provided the spark that inspired me to think about ways we can work to bring Americans together and reduce the striking polarization in many spheres in American life today.

Note: Images generated with SubstackAI tools