Comments on: Pelton to Discuss On the Road to Mark Its 50th Anniversary http://www.medaillenews.com/2007/10/15/pelton-to-discuss-on-the-road-to-mark-its-50th-anniversary/ Experience It! Fri, 25 Jul 2008 03:41:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: Jeannette Ludwig http://www.medaillenews.com/2007/10/15/pelton-to-discuss-on-the-road-to-mark-its-50th-anniversary/#comment-4 Jeannette Ludwig Sun, 21 Oct 2007 21:52:06 +0000 http://www.medaillenews.com/2007/10/15/pelton-to-discuss-on-the-road-to-mark-its-50th-anniversary/#comment-4 Great. Add me (if you wish)to the list of panelists. Sounds like fun! Great. Add me (if you wish)to the list of panelists. Sounds like fun!

]]> By: Ted Pelton http://www.medaillenews.com/2007/10/15/pelton-to-discuss-on-the-road-to-mark-its-50th-anniversary/#comment-3 Ted Pelton Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:39:33 +0000 http://www.medaillenews.com/2007/10/15/pelton-to-discuss-on-the-road-to-mark-its-50th-anniversary/#comment-3 Kerouac gives us a very different figure to look at in terms of where we come from as Americans in the last half-century. While the 1940s were a very important time in US history, when America's 'Greatest Generation' made sacrifices that defeated Nazi fascism, the legacy that we have taken from this as a nation is a checkered one. In essence, we've tried over and over again to restage our great victory, when we truly were liberators of the oppressed in other nations, and where we received nothing but thanks and congratulations for our efforts in war. But our leaders since that time have put too much stock in war as a solution to problems, and as a result we've had Vietnam and now our disastrous, and seemingly endless, involvement in Iraq -- a conflict we deliberately staged and began in an effort of national self-deception. Kerouac, on the other hand, was a pacifist -- almost a dirty word to Americans today. He represents a searching consciousness, one that doesn't start with all the answers, but goes out looking for the truth -- in other people, in places he hasn't been, in generally trusting humanity. Kerouac doesn't give us answers; rather, he proposes an openness toward the world that's based on seeking and questioning. That's why I think we celebrate him today, even though he had a hard time getting his books into print when he wrote them. Maybe we have caught up now to a point where Kerouac's openness and optimism can give us meaning, now that we have travelled very far down the wrong road... Kerouac gives us a very different figure to look at in terms of where we come from as Americans in the last half-century. While the 1940s were a very important time in US history, when America’s ‘Greatest Generation’ made sacrifices that defeated Nazi fascism, the legacy that we have taken from this as a nation is a checkered one. In essence, we’ve tried over and over again to restage our great victory, when we truly were liberators of the oppressed in other nations, and where we received nothing but thanks and congratulations for our efforts in war. But our leaders since that time have put too much stock in war as a solution to problems, and as a result we’ve had Vietnam and now our disastrous, and seemingly endless, involvement in Iraq — a conflict we deliberately staged and began in an effort of national self-deception.

Kerouac, on the other hand, was a pacifist — almost a dirty word to Americans today. He represents a searching consciousness, one that doesn’t start with all the answers, but goes out looking for the truth — in other people, in places he hasn’t been, in generally trusting humanity. Kerouac doesn’t give us answers; rather, he proposes an openness toward the world that’s based on seeking and questioning. That’s why I think we celebrate him today, even though he had a hard time getting his books into print when he wrote them. Maybe we have caught up now to a point where Kerouac’s openness and optimism can give us meaning, now that we have travelled very far down the wrong road…

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