American society individualist, isolated

It’s hard to imagine 12 grapes having much significance.
It’s difficult to comprehend how 12 purple pieces of fruit
could symbolize hope, desire and, most importantly, tradition. In
the Spanish town of La Coruna, families gather together on New
Year’s Eve to feast and ritualistically eat 12 grapes as a
unit. Members silently make resolutions for the upcoming year as
fruit passes their lips. The family members then say a prayer, make
a toast, and embrace one another. Everyone is filled with
excitement and anxiety about the events of the next 12 months. As
an American, this tradition is completely alien to me; I usually
ring in the New Year with 12 shots. However, this type of gathering
brings up bigger questions than the potential harm I may be
inflicting on my liver. When I hear stories such as these, I am
reminded of the lack of solidarity within American culture, the
effects of which are mostly felt within our youth. American youth
has proven the greatest casualty of a society that prides itself on
the importance of the individual. A country that was built upon the
romantic notions of the pioneer and the cowboy has created an
entire generation of isolated and confused individuals. Throughout
history, civilizations have been woven together by communities.
People relied on one another for survival. After sufficiently
raping and pillaging the “New World,” our founding
fathers decided their land wasn’t going to be based on some
sissy “help thy neighbor” mentality and aptly declared
themselves “independent.” Ours is a culture that favors
the individual and reliance on anyone but ourselves is seen as
weak. Masses of apartment buildings, where neighbors live side by
side for years without knowing each other’s names, have
replaced villages. Day after day, individuals sit alone on
freeways. They wait to interact with their computers at their
soulless jobs. The television set has taken the place of local
watering holes, and people relate more to Homer Simpson than to
each other. Small wonder that such an existence, modeled so much
after the success of the individual leads to a feeling of
disconnection. Most people are separated from their extended
families by cities, states or even continents. The archaic ideal
that it takes a whole community to raise a child is breaking down.
The consequences of such an independent life style are that
American youth now look for something to belong to or believe in.
The transient culture that defines America leaves its youth
searching for an identity, with results ranging from bizarre to
disastrous. Often young men try to define themselves in deviant,
self-destructive ways. The astronomical amount of violence in
America causes many to scratch their heads, but perhaps we need
look no further than our identity-devoid environment to account for
our aggression. Urban and suburban youth frantically seek out a
sense of camaraderie and instead find themselves being jumped into
a gang or subscribing to Neo-Nazi propaganda. In 1999 there were
840,500 active gang members within the United States. Alienation
has become a hallmark of our society, as nearly a million youths in
this country are desperate to be a part of something larger than
themselves, no matter the consequences. What begins as a benign
desire to belong often results in a complete breakdown of our
already unsteady society. The repercussions of our individualist
culture run deep. By emphasizing the importance of the pursuit of
the individual, we have experienced a loss of unity, a loss of
belonging, and a loss of identity. Perhaps our society needs a
rejuvenated sense of community, where the individual is not
expected to be alone, isolated, and bewildered, but instead allows
individuals to rely on a substantial network of family, friends,
and neighbors. More traditions involving fruit would do this
country a lot of good.

Sizgorich is a fourth-year English student. E-mail her at
[email protected].