Five Things We've Learned from Americans We Admire
A look back at reflections from our series, "Five Things I've Learned about America"
A look back at Five Things I’ve Learned about America
This weekend’s holiday got us thinking about our country and the challenges we face together as a nation – thoughts that caused us to go back and revisit something about which we’re particularly proud.
First shared a little while back, Five Things I’ve Learned About America is our collection of written pieces, short videos, and bursts of inspiration from people we admire.
The full series remains available anytime on our website — more than 30 reflections from people across the country, each a personal offering of five things from someone eager to share their sense of the ways that America has shaped, challenged, and improved them.
If you’ve joined Five Things I’ve Learned recently, you may not know about this collection. And, if you remember this series, we think it’s a particularly good moment to again spend some time with these voices. Whether you’re feeling hopeful, troubled, or somewhere in between, we believe you’ll find something here that resonates — and maybe something that surprises you.
Each contributor shared five things they’ve learned, but we’ve mixed things up a bit below, where you can discover one reflection from each of five of our favorites. You can follow the links and images to view more of the corresponding individual reflection.
Explore Five Things I’ve Learned About America at myfivethings.com/america.
And best wishes to you as the week begins,
—The Five Things I’ve Learned team.
Americans don’t believe in impossible.
"My grandfather, David Hume Rice, was born in 1898 and probably never thought he’d move from Barrington, Illinois to Edcouch in South Texas in 1926. He attended the University of Illinois and studied English. He was a philosopher and poet and came from a wealthy family.
In the 1950’s he adopted my father, a little Mexican boy who crossed the border without documents. My father was left at Grandfather David’s farm by the foreman. Grandfather decided to raise him as his son.
My grandfather’s parents and siblings were not happy. They cut him off financially and he lost his diary farm, livestock, and equipment. He moved in with us and he practically raised me. In his much later years, I took care of him: fed him, bathed him, and lit his pipe.
I spent thousands of hours with my grandfather. From watching baseball and football games on TV to reading stories together. People think blood makes a family. Nope, it’s love.
America’s bond is love. Hate always fails. We are not going to let anything, or anyone tear us apart. A perfect union sounds impossible, but this is America, and we don’t believe in impossible.”
— David Rice, Writer, Educator, Austin, Texas · Read more
Our library system is our most radical institution – and they’re operated by revolutionaries.
“Libraries are something we consider a normal mainstay in civic life. But, do we take their existence for granted?
Think about it, because it is really wild to break it down in more general terms: There is a physical building in your town/city, which allows you to come in and avail yourself of the free exchange of ideas – with little to no limits – through books. You can read all you want, and learn all you want. Your only limit is the compacity of your patience to wait for a book to come from another branch if your local library doesn’t have what you are looking for. This is miraculous! Then there are the librarians who are eager to help you research any manner of subject matter and connect you with the right title. AND they will shush the obnoxious person clicking their pen incessantly, thus interrupting your quiet reading time.
Are librarians the real-world Jedi-knights? Yes? Maybe?”
— Ellen Daniels, Executive Director, Mississippi Book Festival, Jackson, Mississippi · Read more
The kitchen table is where families come together.
“The kitchen table is where families come together, and that family doesn’t have to look or act like my family, but if you have a group of people you love and can depend on—and who can count on you—then that’s your family, so treasure them. The kitchen table is where you come together to resolve conflicts, and it won’t always be pretty; there will always be disagreements, but it’s where you remember that you’re still a family, where you communicate, laugh, and cry together, and where you acknowledge that everyone is dealing with trauma, stressors, hard times, and addictions, and that shared reality is part of what makes us a family.”
— David Martin Davies, Journalist, Host of Texas Public Radio’s “The Source,” San Antonio, Texas· View more
Americans can reclaim their voices – and it’s beautiful when they do.
“When I teach writing in prisons, I experience firsthand the tragic consequences of America’s structural racism and our broken economic systems. But I also hear stories that are so gorgeously written and moving that they take my breath away. And that’s the fourth thing I’ve learned. Americans can reclaim their voices and it’s beautiful. That’s why I love my work as a writing teacher, putting language to experience poems, essays, stories, it changes us. We understand ourselves and each other and the world through story. And when we learn to tell a story, especially our own, with the tools of narrative, craft and creative writing, we reclaim something primal and ancient inside of ourselves. We reclaim the sound of our own voice and our ability to hear others’ voices too. And that might be the most healing experience we can have.”
— Jeannine Oullette, Writer, teacher, Minneapolis, Minnesota· Read more.
We can’t afford despair.
“Here’s one more thing this country has, has taught me. There is no such thing as a country. There’s, there’s no such thing as a citizenry. No, no body politic and no borders, no one to keep out. Um, no one to keep in. There’s just humanity and earth. And I’m worried that we’ve lost too much and done too much damage to ours. I’m not, I’m not religious, but despair is said to be a deadly sin, and I’ve certainly seen the deadly effect that it can have on the spirit of, of individuals, of communities, of, of cultures, of eras, of time. I don’t really think that despair is something that we can afford right now. I can’t, there’s only so much time. And in that time, I do think all of us have our task. So I’ll carry on with mine and leave you to yours. And here is hoping that we catch each other somewhere down the road. Peace.”
— Marya Hornbacher, Author, Nomad, America· Read more
Join us live Saturday, July 25th
And while we’re writing, a quick reminder to join us live Saturday July 25th at a special time (10:00am, 1:00 eastern) when the great Maya C. Popa returns to Five Things I’ve Learned to share literature that has shaped her and that informs the poems in her wonderful new collection, If You Love That Lady, available everywhere July 14th.
(We’re trying something new in advance of this session to help spread the word about If You Love That Lady as broadly as we can: Pre-order Maya’s new collection and join her class, Five Things I’ve Learned about Manuscript Mixtapes, live with our compliments. Read more here.
Discover more from David Rice, Ellen Daniels, David Martin Davies, Jeannine Ouellette, Marya Hornbacher, Maya C. Popa – and more than 150 more creative thinkers we admire at myfivethings.com.