Hamilton I - Write Like You're Running Out of Time

Sometimes we see or hear something that moves us to inspiration. In the musical, "Hamilton," Lin-Manuel Miranda evoked powerful thoughts with both words and images. As such, this begins a series of thought posts derived from the show:

Writing. A single word that contains one of the greatest assets humanity has ever achieved. Its expression has shown us many of our greatest heroes and geniuses throughout history. Hamilton was one of those. His modern rendition says he "wrote like he's running out of time." Like so many others, the power of the written word was his greatest strength. It was through writing that he was able to truly help shape the nation. The power of writing exemplified.

Without writing we would have no true history, our ability to pass knowledge from one generation to the next would be limited to the words of our immediate elders. As society has advanced, so too has our writing. The printing press made our words extend to more and more people while advances in transportation allowed our words to reach the furthest corners of the world. The modern world took that to unprecedented heights with the advent of the internet.

The worldwide web created the ability for our words to be shared with the entire world in an instant. Our private correspondence can be shared with loved ones thousands of miles away without delay. The writing we want to share with the public can now be broadcast far and wide without cost and with unlimited range.

Such advancement has changed the very fabric of our communications, and yet the speed at which our writing has progressed over the last few decades has left us with little time to catch up. So many tools, so many places where the written word can be seen, and yet the question that must be asked, is what do we do with them?

In the time of the USA’s Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton made a name for himself almost exclusively through his writing. He wrote to support his own advancement then used that same skill on letters of entreaty to support the Revolution. When our country was being formed, he wrote thoughts into law, and then wrote essays and “papers” to garner support for the government being created, most notably with the Federalist Papers. Some say that he even wrote much of his own political downfall with the Reynolds Pamphlet.  Literally thousands of papers were written by this man and read by a nation in need of his words.  But what would all this look like if he lived today?

One of the greatest benefits to the technology of the written word today is our access to near unlimited amounts of information. Unfortunately, this is also one of its greatest weaknesses.  With access to so much information, it becomes that much harder to ensure that any single piece is read. Thoughts stream into the web in blogs, blurbs, and statuses and we are left with the nearly impossible task of sifting through it all. 

Technology has of course attempted to assist with this. We can use apps to feed us updates from specific sites of our choosing. Facebook works hard to show us things trending that also match our interests. But does this actually aid us or simply make it worse. Humans by nature are drawn to those who are most like us. Given the overwhelming amount of information available, it is easy to feel like all of the world agrees with us, despite the fact that we’re only accessing a select amount of the writing that exists. Our ideas more easily feel like facts that can become beliefs. Our bubbles can continue to get smaller and smaller without any real conscious effort. As such, even as our access to it increases, writing that moves us to an action that we otherwise wouldn’t have taken becomes more and more rarely read.

That doesn’t even touch upon our seemingly never-ending pursuit of the fastest and yet most exciting type of information… but that is a greater topic in an of itself. The fact of the matter is, that even the greatest writers face great challenges in having their thoughts and ideas brought to the fore. Even as a I write this- inspired by Hamilton’s passion and talent for writing- I am subtly aware that though billions of people in the world will have access to my words, only a handful will read them. Less will embrace the thoughts within them, and even less will be spurned into any sort of action.

Can a small voice be heard in a crowd of so many? One has to wonder how many geniuses are unheard through all the noise in the world. How many ideas and thoughts that could change the world are written into being only to be unseen amongst the deluge of the masses? Does the knowledge of this nearly insurmountable hurdle hold us back from “writing like we’re running out of time?” The idealist in me would like to think that it’s not so, but as I look back at my own history, and those of so many writers I know, I feel that the weight of making our word heard can certainly have its effect on us.

Is there any remedy to this conundrum? Is there a way for the Hamiltons of the future to make their mark with their writing? Is there a way for them to sway us with the power of the written word? Perhaps the answer is as simple as continuing to encourage as much reading and writing as we can. Perhaps society will adapt in a way that makes use of our tools without losing out on the brilliant thoughts of the individual.

Chicago and American Education

Well, I am back from Chicago, and although the trip home was obnoxious ( I got transfered to another train and ended up in St. Louis instead of LaPlata where my car was) all in all, things were good. It felt really good to be in a big city again. Sometimes I forget how much I miss it. Walking up and down the streets of Chicago was wonderful. It made me think of Boston, which of course always makes me happy. I made some new friends up there, which is always a bonus. One is a business major who went to this really amazing public school- more on that in a minute- and the other works as the promotions manager for an orginization called the Chicago House. I went to one of their small beneifts while in town and I was really impressed. They help people out a lot with a lot of different things, and I don't think I could do it justice in my despcription, but as I said, it seems like a great organization. Both the guys are really cool, and I look forward to hanging out with them more in the future. I have to say that 2 highly potential friends in 3 days is rather impressive. Hehe.

As I mentioned earlier, one my new friends went to this amazing public school in one of the Chicago suberbs. As he and I talked about it, he was very animated and excited about it, while I seemed not the least bit pleased. He finally figured out that there was something wrong and asked me what it was. I said he probably shouldn't open that can up, but he insisted. I tried to warn him. I went on a tirade about how it agrivates me that there is such a disparity in public schools. Let me first tell you that this school has 3 swimming pools, a TV production studio, has 2 sections devoted to international focuses (including teleconfrenceing around the world), etc. While I find all of these things to be amazing, and I told him so, I was so infuriated at the disparity it showed. He didn't immediately understand. So we talked about the school that was aproximately 10 miles away. This high school has less teachers than it needed, only one gym, no pool or anything close, was over 50 years old, etc. The teachers made approximately 1/4 of those at my friend's high school, there was no budget for extracurricular activities, etc.

What I told him, and now I tell to you, is that the very idea of public schools was thwarted by this disparity. Here he was, by no fault of his own, going to a school that was so amazing, setting himself up for a life of sucess. While I told him I was making no statements against him, and that he may have very well worked hard once he was there, the fact of the matter was that he was no different from someone living 10 miles away, and yet he was afforded a world of opportunities the other could scarcely dream of. And to make matters worse, it wasn't even like he was going to a private school! He, like the boy not so far away, were both attending schools funded by the government. I explained to him that the goal of public schools was to giveeveryone an equal chance for sucess.
He countered that his parents paid more property tax. Can you guess my response? In truth that only made matters worse in my eyes. for one, it only perpetuates the class system. He said that there will always be classes, and I agreed, but the difference is that while class will always exist, it is an American goal for it not to be predetermined. The fact that his parents make money should in no way be able to give him such a better start than someone who was born to a poor family. That is almost as bad as the victorian and feudal system where you are born into a class. It has been proven time and time again that those who attend better schools have an infinitely higher chance of maintaining or raising their social status and making more money. He (at least early on) didn't do anything to earn him the right to attend such a dramatically better school. He said his parents worked hard. Well, since we all know that you can't chose your parents that seemed no better. Why should his life be set up so much better because he was lucky enough to be born with better parents?

In my mind, the idea of the American educational system is to give everyone an equal opportunity  to succeed. Will there always be classes? Yes, because some people will not take advantage of what they are given. It is my belief that no matter what walk of life you come from, you have the right to an education that is equal  to everyone else. I think it is our obligation as a society to provide for our future through our educationsal system, and that we shouldn't be able to discriminate against someone because their family makes less money. I am happy to say that the more he thought about it, the more he ended up agreeing with me. It makes me think that there is hope. He simply didn't ever think of the difference that system made in his life and what it could easily have made in another's. Maybe if more people start realizing that we only hurt our society as a whole by not taking action, then maybe some real change can come about. With situations like these, there can be no doubt that what we are trying is not working, and something needs to be done.

Well, I guess this turned into more of a tirade than I had expected, but it was something I feel strongly about. I was impressed that this empassioned explination was something my friend enjoyed. We had a great time, and I felt really enegized being able to have that conversation. It seems rare that people want to discuss anything serious now days. Oh well. I am going to class. More later!