Individual Freedom and Self-Reliance

The earliest settlers. came to the North American continent to establish colonies which were free from the controls that exist­ed in European societies, they wanted to escape the controls plac­ed on their lives by kings and governments, priests and churches, noblemen and aristocrats. To a great extent, they succeeded. In 1776 the British colonial settlers declared their independence from England and established a new nation, the United States of America. In so doing, they overthrew the king of England and declared that the power to govern would lie in the hands of the people. They were now free from the power of the kings. In 1789, when they wrote the Constitution for their new nation, they separated church and state so that there would never be a government-supported church. This greatly limited the power of the church. Also, in writing the Constitution they expressly forbade titles of nobility to ensure that an aristocratic society would not develop. There would be no ruling class of noblemen in the new nation.

The historic decisions made by those first settlers have had a profound effect on the shaping of the American character. By limiting the power of the government and the churches and elimi­nating a formal aristocracy, they crested a climate of freedom where the emphasis was on the individual. The United States came to be associated in their minds with the concept of individual freedom. This is probably the most basic of all the American va­lues. Scholars and outside observers often call this value "indi­vidualism," but many Americans use the word "freedom". Perhaps the word "freedom" is one of the most respected popular words in the United States today.

By "freedom', Americans mean the desire and the ability of all individuals to control their own destiny without outside interference from the Government, a ruling noble class, the church, or any other organized authority. The desire to be free of controls was a basic value of the new nation in 1776, and it has continued to attract immigrants to this country.

There is, however, a price to be paid for this individual free­dom: self-reliance. Americans believe that individuals must learn to rely on themselves or risk losing freedom. This means achieving both financial and emotional independence from their parents as early as possible, usually bу age 18 or 21. It means that Americans believe they should take care of themselves, solve their own problems, and "stand on their own two feet". Tocqueville observed the Americans' belief in self-reliance 150 years ago in the 1830s:

They owe nothing to any man, they expect nothing from any man; they acquire the habit of always considering themselves as standing alone, and they are apt to imagine that their whole destiny is in their own hands.

This strong belief in self-reliance continues today аз a basic American value. It is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of the American character to understand, but it is profoundly important. Americans believe that they must bе self-reliant in order to. keep their freedom. If they rely too much on the sup­port of their families or the government or any organization, they may not be free to do what they want.

By being dependent, not only do they risk losing freedom, but they also risk losing the respect of their peers. Even if they are not truly self-reliant, most Americans believe they must at least appear to be so. In order to be in the mainstream of American life — to have power and/or respect — individuals must bе seen аs self-reliant. Although receiving financial sup­port from charity, family, or the government is allowed, it is never admired. Many people believe that such individuals are setting a bad example which may weaken the American character as a whole.

The most important thing to understand about Americans is probably their devotion to "individualism". They have been trained since very early in their lives to consider themselves as separate, individuals who are responsible for their own situa­tions in life and their own destinies. They have not been train­ed to see themselves as members of a close-knit, tightly inter­dependent family, religious group, tribe, nation, or other col­lectivity.

You can sea it in the way Americans treat their children. Even very young children are given opportunities to make their own choices and express their opinions. A parent will ask a one-year-old child what color balloon she wants, which, candy bar she would prefer, or whether she wants to sit next to mommy or daddy. The child's preference will normally be accommodated.

Through this process,' Americans come to see themselves as se­parate human beings who have their own opinions and who are res­ponsible for their own decisions.

Indeed, American child-rearing manuals (such as Dr.Benjamin Spook's famous Child and Baby Care) state that the parents' ob­jective in raising a child is to create a responsible, self-re­liant individual who, by the age of 18 or so, is ready to move 'out of the parents' house and make his or her own way in life. Americans take this advice very seriously, so much sо that a person beyond the age of about 20 who is still living at home with his or her parents may be thought to be "immature", "tied to the mother's apron strings" or otherwise unable to lead a nor­mal, independent life.

Margaret Wohlenberg was the only American student among ab­out 900 Malays enrolled at Indiana University's branch campus in Shah Alam, Malaysia, in 1986. She took Psychology 101, an intro­ductory psychology course from the Indiana University curriculum, and earned a grade of A+. The other students' grades were lower. After the experience she reported:

I do not think that Psych 101 is considered a very difficult course for the average freshman on the Bloomington camрus (Indiana University's main location) but it is a great challenge to these (Malay) kids who have very little, if any, exposure to the concepts of Western psychology ... The American (while growing up) is surrounded, maybe even bombarded, by the propaganda of self-fulfillment and self-identity. Self-improvement and self-help— doing my own thing — seem at the core of American ideology.

But these are "quite unfamiliar ideas to the Malay students," Ms. Kohlenberg says. The Malay students' upbringing emphasizes the im­portance of family relationships and individual subservience to the family and the community.

Americans are trained to conceive of themselves as separate in­dividuals, and they assume everyone else in the world is too. When they encounter a person from abroad who seems to them excessively concerned with the opinions of parents, with following traditions, or with fulfilling obligations to others, they assume that the person feels trapped or is weak, indecisive, or "overly dependent". They assume all people must resent being in situations where they arenot "free to make up their own minds". They assume, further­more, that after living for a time in the United States people will come to feel liberated from constraints arising outside them­selves and will be grateful for the opportunity to "do their own thing" and "have it their own way".

It is this concept of themselves as individual decision-makers that blinds at least some Americans to the fact that they share a culture with each other. They have the idea, as mentioned above, that they have independently made up their own minds about the values and assumptions they hold. The notion that social factors outside themselves have made them "Just like everyone else” in important ways offends their sense of dignity.

Americans, then, consider the ideal person to be an indivi­dualistic, self-reliant, independent person. They assume, in­correctly, that people from elsewhere share this value and this self-concept. In the degree to which they glorify "the indivi­dual" who stands alone and makes his or her own decisions, Ame­ricans are quite distinctive.

The individual that Americans idealize prefers an atmosphere of freedom, where neither the government nor any other external force or agency dictates what the individual does. For Americans, the idea of individual freedom has strong, positive conno­tations.

By contrast, people from many other cultures regard some of the behavior Americans legitimize by the label "individual free­dom" to be self-centered and lacking in consideration for others.

Foreigners who understand the degree to which Americans are imbued with the notion that the free, self-reliant individual is the ideal kind of human being will be able to understand many aspects of American behavior and thinking that otherwise might not make sense. A very few of the many possible examples:

Americans see as heroes those individuals who "stand out from the crowd" by doing something first, longest, most often, or otherwise "best". Examples are aviators Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart.

Americans admire people who have overcome adverse circumstan­ces (for example, poverty or a physical handicap) and "succeed­ed" in life. Black educator Booker T. Washington is one example; the blind and deaf author and lecturer Helen Keller is another.

Many Americans do not display the degree of respect for their parents that people in more traditional or family-oriented so­cieties commonly display. They have the conception that it was a sort of historical or biological accident that put them in the hands of particular parents, that the parents fulfilled their responsibilities to tile children while the children were young, and now that the children have, reached "the age of independence" the close child-parent tie is loosened, if not broken.

It is not unusual for Americans who are beyond the age of ab­out 22 and who are still living with their parents to pay their parents for room and board. Elderly parents living with their grown children may do likewise. Paying for room and board is a way of showing independence, self-reliance, and responsibility for oneself.

Certain phrases one, commonly hears among Americans capture their devotion to individualist; "Do your own thing». "I did it my way". "You'll have to decide that for yourself". "You made your bed, now lie in it". "If you don't look out for yourself, no one else will", "look out for number one".

Closely associated with the value they place on individualism is the importance Americans assign to privacy. Americans assume that people "need some time to themselves" or "some time alone" to think about things or recover their spent psychological ener­gy. Americans have great difficulty understanding foreigners who always want to be with another person, who dislike being alone.

If the parents can afford it, each child will have his or her own bedroom. Having one's own bedroom, even as an infant, incul­cates in a person the notion that she is entitled to a place of her own where she can be by herself and —notice — keep her pos­sessions. She will have her clothes, her toys, her books, and so on. These things will be hers and no one else's.

Americans assume that people have their "private thoughts" that might never be shared with anyone. Doctors, lawyers, psy­chiatrists, and others have rules governing "confidentiality" that are intended to prevent information about their clients' personal situations from becoming known to others.

Americans' attitudes about privacy can be difficult for for­eigners to understand. Americans* houses, yards, and even their offices can seem open and inviting, yet, in the Americans' minds, there are boundaries that other people are simply not supposed to cross. When the boundaries are crossed, the Americans' bodies will visibly stiffen and their manner will become cool and aloof. The courage to try something new has been an American charac­teristic since colonial times, when the nation's founders start­ed one of the greatest experiments of all times — the creation of American democracy. The citizens of the United States, through their elected representatives establish the nation's laws and determine its foreign policy. Those who disapprove of these laws and policies may openly express their disapproval and try to elect new representatives.

American democracy is based on majority rule, but it also protects minority rights. There are certain freedoms which the United States promises to all its citizens. Members of minority groups cannot bе denied these rights by а vote of the majority. The basic rights of every citizen outlined in the first 10 amend­ments to the Constitution, are known as the Bill of Rights. These include freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and free­dom from unreasonable search and arrest.

In the United States, democracy is not only a form of govern­ment, it is a way of life. The idea that those who must live by the rules should help make them is basic to nearly all American institutions and organisations. American children are introduc­ed to the democratic concepts of majority rule and representa­tive government at a very early age. Many families hold weekly meetings to determine household rules and activities. Most schools have student councils with elected representatives sо that students can voice their opinions about school regulations and activities. Social, civic, labor, and charitable groups el­ect their officers and make decisions by voting. In publicly ow­ned businesses, stockholders elect the directors who control the company. Local and state government are also based upon democra­tic principles.

"All men are created equal", sауs the Declaration of Indepen­dence. This statement does not mean that all human beings are equal in ability or ambition. It means, instead, that all people should be treated equally before the law and given equal privi­leges and opportunities.

The American belief in equality of opportunity is illustrated by the Horatio Alger myth. Horatio Alger was a 19th-century Ame­rican novelist who wrote stories about poor boys who became suc­cessful. His books told about the little newsboy or shoeshine boy who grew up to become rich and respected. These popular rags-to-riches stories exemplified the American dream the belief that any individual, no matter how poor, can achieve success through honesty and hard work.

For many immigrant Americans, this dream became reality. Moat of them, particularly those who came to the United States during the 19th century, were peasants or laborers in their native lands. Until a generation or two, nearly all these immigrant families rose on the social and economic scales. Financial success was often the result of taking a risk, of quitting a sala­ried position and starting a new business. Becoming an entrepreneur is still an open, though sometimes difficult, road to pros­perity. Social mobility — movement from one social class to ano­ther — has always been characteristic of the United States, and it is closely tied to financial status.

" TRY IT— YOU'LL LIKE IT"

She great American novelist and humorist Mark Twain pointed out the difference between, the more conservative European and the more experimental American temperament. He described the Englishman as a "person who does things bесаusе they have been done before" and the American as "a person who does things be­cause they haven't been done before". Americans love to try something new mostly because of a belief that newer may be better-As a nation of immigrants, the United States has had a conti­nual influx of people with a pioneering spirit, with the cou­rage to make major changes. In the mid 19th century, this spirit led American settlers to make the long, difficult, and dangerous journey westward in search, of gold or free land. The desire to start a new life in a new place is still noticeable throughout the nation. About 40 million Americans, change residences every year. The average American moves about 14 times in his or her lifetime. Most of these moves are local ones, occurring when fa­milies get bigger or smaller, richer of poorer. Some moves are due to job changes. Others are the result of a spirit of adven­ture or the desire for a change of climate. Moving away is less lonely today because it is so easy to travel or phone a few thou­sand miles to keep in touch with relatives and old friends. Out of sight is no longer out of mind.

The pioneering spirit of Americans is evident in many other aspects of their lives. Mid-life career changes are quite common and reflect American adaptability as job opportunities change. Americans of all ages are quite willing to return to school to learn something new if that will lead to a better job. Americans also change marriage partners more often than most other people in the world.

Americans love science and technology because these fields of study bring the excitement of new discoveries. The United States has embraced the new age of communication with great enthusiasts.

From preschoolers to senior citizens, Americans are learning to use computers —at school, at work, and at home. Robots, lasers, and other creations of modern technology fascinate them. Ameri­cans subsidize all kinds of space exploration, ranging from out­side the earth to inside the atom, in order to uncover the sec­rets of the universe. Most Americans are looking forward with great excitement to the beginning of a new century and the scien­tific wonders it will bring.

This love of change is closely tied to faith in improvement. Americans have always been optimistic people, believing in the perfectibility of people, the basic goodness of their country, and the ability of American ingenuity to improve the quality of human life. But in the past 30 years, people have come to rea­lise that if life can Decode better, it can also become worse. The dangers of air and water pollution, nuclear power, and over­population have become clear. Americans now realize that it is not only possible for living conditions to deteriorate; it is even possible for the inventions of modern science and industry to destroy life on earth totally.