Our Time is 'Ragtime'

My yearly pilgrimage with my wife Dixie to see plays at the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario continues to be an important engaging creative time in my life.  I was only vaguely familiar with the E.L. Doctorow novel, 'Ragtime' that inspired one play that I saw this year.

"Ragtime, the Musical is an example of American myth-making a it most alluring, ambitious and artful, particularly when we consider that nothing less than America's collective dream is at stake."--Paula Uruburu, 'Myth America', 2012.

'Ragtime' is our time.  2012 America is not just uneven, it is ruptured.  We are not just divided we are separated.  E Pluribus Unum, out of many one does not reflect the reality of our times.  The dream we claim as our uniqueness, our 'myth', our story of who we are is being re-written, but not is a way that reflects our basic values.  It is being re-written not as one, but as many as individualism trumps being in this together.

The early 1900's was a time of ups and downs in America.  It was a ragged time. For the well-healed having achieved the 'American Dream' it was a threatening time.  Newer immigrants came to the shores in the millions.  Many arrived with nothing yet looked to America as a promise of a better day for them and their families.  Others, primarily Americans of African and slave descent had worked here for generations, yet were still regarded as less than second class citizens.  To them it was a time of continuing disappointment and anger nevertheless they hang on to a thread of hope that good 'men' would do the right thing by them, advocate for justice.  Anarchy, communism and the few rich gave rise to discontent, protest and movements seeking not overthrow but equality of opportunity.

It was over 125 years since the dream of 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' based on a law that treated everyone equally had been the hope of every citizen.  Yet, to many it seemed further away than it had ever been.

A musical form emerged that countered the despair and pessimism of the times.  'Ragtime' as a musical type provided melodies that sought to include the gifts of all music, classical(Dvorak), the marching music of Jon Phillip Sousa, and the new arrangements by Scott Joplin and others.  Important ingredients of various American cultures were represented.  The dream received articulation in song. The possibility of a new 'myth of America' could be played and heard in an art form.

We need an American myth that captures for our time the dream of this nation.  A new American myth will not automatically come from electing whomever we thing is the 'right' candidate.  I, for one, see President Obama as the better choice this time around.  However, as a friend of mine says, whoever wins, we have a lot of work to do.  It's time for a new dream.

We seem to be drawn to dreams of a divided America.   The 'Occupy Movement', perhaps having had its say already, spoke of the "1% and the 99%" being re-balanced.   Candidate Romney speaks of the '47%' of us who have changed the dream into an unmotivated existence of dependency and victimism. 'God bless America.'  Any future that begins with 'us' and 'them' is not one with legs.

The dream that attracts me is one that emphasizes the 'us' the 'we' as one, as united, as community.  To move that direction I think of the possible. It is possible to engage our citizens through millions of conversations taking place around tables and in circles from our families, neighborhoods, clubs, groups, churches to our elected leaders.  These conversations will focus on the role and responsibility of citizenship.  The dream will become new because citizenship will be re-invented and community will come from the connections of all involved in the process.

Leadership that can assist in the dream will articulate such a vision and provide encouragement for all Americans to invest in that future.  That investment will include the opportunity for employment in building a new America through the needed infrastructure, health care, education, housing and environment.  The jobs created in this dream can be identified in these areas and we can begin to choose what role each of us will play vocationally, in our civic life and in our families.  Part of the American dream is the real opportunity to teach, to heal, to think,  to design, to build and  to create.

While I do not think that history is cyclical, 'what goes around, comes around', these times feel like 'Ragtime' to me.  Fear drives the creation of new myths of who we are and who we want to be.  This is a time when I wish I were a musician or playwright so I could more creatively participate in this process.  But I can be in conversation with family, friends and neighbors.  And when I am, I can inquire about how we can share our gifts in our 'ragtime' and live the melody that suggests.