My wife gives me grief for keeping nearly every book I have ever read. Looking at my collection, you would notice that there is no common theme, genre, or persuasion that dominates the shelf. Of course, I have my favorites that I grab dictated by my mood, and the other day, that work was de Tocqueville.
Of course, some of his impressions are antiquated and some are as relevant today as ever. One of his main observations is the equality of conditions that can be uncovered at every turn. Sure, they may look different in relation to regional environments, but his main tenet holds true, nevertheless. One line in particular that always seems pertinent, and more so today than at any other time I’ve read his work.
“Like travelers scattered about some large wood, intersected by paths converging to one point, if all of them keep their eyes fixed upon that point and advance towards it, they insensibly draw nearer together, though they do not seek, though they do not see and know each other; and they will be surprised at length to find themselves all collected at the same spot. All the nations which take, not any particular man, but Man himself as the object of their researches and their imitations are tending in the end to a similar state of society, like these travelers converging at the central spot of the forest.”
Today, more than ever, it is important to realize what he is saying here. That, democracy does not force these observations on the individual. It is ultimately up to him. Regrettably, this reality seems to be fleeting and it is now the responsibility of each of us to return this precept to the public discourse and back into the fabric of this wonderfully beautiful experiment we call home.
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