INSIGHTS

A FEW Fourth of July thoughts a month late:

What brought Gertrude Stein into Ernest Hemingway’s camp right off the bat was his innocence of eye. The absence of this quality often hamstrings our ability to fully appreciate what is best about America. We have to see ourselves through the eyes of the outsiders – those who were not born here -to see and understand the country in its sharpest relief. It is they, not the professional patriots (who usually miss the idea of America completely) who provide refreshing reminders of the best that we stand for and offer. Sadly, the death of Kenneth Mackenzie Clark, the man who, as Lord Clark, brought Civilisation to the world, emphasized how an outsider can often see our best much more clearly than we can.

In Clark’s obituary, we learned how much he loved this country. He bequeathed many of the most important books in his personal library to the Pier-pont Morgan Library in New York City. Why? This is his explanation: “During the last 50 years, the United States has been infinitely generous to Great Britain. They have not only saved us from extinction in two wars, but they have saved buildings and books that mean much to us. As far as I know, the movement has been all one way. My offer to the Morgan Library is small -a very small sign of recognition of what we owe to the United States.” When I read that, I was cheered enormously for two reasons: because it’s true and because someone of Lord Clark’s stature felt an unforced obligation to say it.

Milos Forman, the Academy Award-winning director of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, offered a Czechoslovakian perspective: “In America, when you have an idea for a movie and you get turned down by one studio, you can always go to another. You can argue. You can fight. In Czechoslovakia, ’no’ means ’no!’ “

Think about it. Here in the United States, we don’t have to take “no” for an answer. We can keep on going as long as our determination holds up. This is not to say that opportunities are the same for everyone, because, of course, they’re not. But the track is wider than many would have us believe. Writer Henry Fairlie put it this way: “They [immigrants to America] were drawn by the promise of this land; the land has performed for many more of them than it has failed; and they in turn have helped remake the nation.”

Once in a while, we need to step back (or step out) and try to realize what it is that makes America such a strong and positive symbol to those not lucky enough to have been born here. To quote Forman again: “I was moved to tears when I found those magical words ’the pursuit of happiness’ in the Declaration of Independence. I knew exactly what the men who wrote it meant. Not the right to happiness, which doesn’t exist, but the right to pursue it.” That’s precisely what this country intended to offer: The right to pursue our own individual definitions of happiness. And America is still the world’s headquarters for that pursuit.

What these outsiders have to say is as uplifting to Americans as seeing a flag snap in a summer morning breeze. Their viewpoints provide us with a periscope from which to see over the incessant criticism that is directed our way. Because America, on top of everything else, provides a living to those who elect to see the country as nothing more than a large collection of Achilles’ heels.

No, the Daughters of the American Revolution has not asked me to join its ranks. But I was moved by what Lord Clark did because he understood the elements of great societies. In America he saw at least one of those elements: a generosity of spirit that expects very little in return.

To those historians who prefer to take the long, long view of America -those who still view this nation as only an experiment-the durability of the hope we represent must seem surprising. Hope remains America’s drawing card, and, even with all our troubles, it is still in great supply. Those people who come to this country take their portion of America’s hope and work to make it sustain and fulfill their dreams.

Here in America, the promise lives on,and those who have seen promise snuffedout confirm that. Immigrants come anddo the work that our children look downupon. Nowadays, they are more apt to befrom Mexico or Vietnam than from Europe. But the reasons they come remainthe same. They are drawn to the signalAmerica sends -a signal that, through itall, remains strong and clear: Come andtake your chances.