Idealizing What Is Practical

Many historians believe that most of the beliefs and values which are characteristically American emerged within the context of the frontier experience.

Survival in the wilderness was best achieved by individualists. Survival experiences also explain the American tendency to idealize whatever is prac­tical. In America, what works is what counts.

Frontier: in American history the frontier was the edge of the settled country where unlimited cheap land was available attracting pioneers who were willing to live the hard but independent life in the West.

They had not trained themselves in farming or house construction, but they trusted they would be able to devise workable solutions to the daily problems and dangers they faced. Inventiveness was necessary for survival.

This "can-do" spirit is something Americans are proud of today. They like to think they are natural-born do-it-yourselfers. In which country does one find such a variety of "how-to" books and self-service opportunities? There are do-it-yourself books on everything from how to build and repair your own engine to how to be your own best friend. Self-service arrangements include time-saving clerkless airline ticket counters and do-it-yourself telephone install­ment kits. These kinds of solutions appeal to Americans' preference for what­ever is quick and practical.

Volunteerism

The do-it-yourself spirit is known as volunteerism in American community and political life. Volunteerism means people helping people through privately-initiated, rather than government-sponsored, agencies. Volunteers, usually unpaid, are highly motivated workers who organize themselves and others to solve a particular community problem or meet an immediate social need, rather than waiting for someone else—usually the government—to do it. Vol­unteerism is pervasive, arising wherever social services do not cover com­munity needs. When a high school football team requires money for uniforms, parents and students form an athletic association which organizes car washes and bake sales to raise money for uniforms. Volunteer fund-raising groups step in to help the needy in all spheres: there are groups that hold clothing drives for the poor and homeless as well as groups that organize expensive money-raising dinners to save a symphony orchestra, for example. Where there are gaps in federal social programs, volunteers provide services such as adult education, psychological counseling, and legal aid.

The willingness to participate in such groups is so widespread that six out of ten Americans are members of a volunteer organization. Volunteerism reflects Americans' opti­mistic pride in their ability to work out practical solutions themselves.

Psychology of Abundance

It is easy to be an optimistic do-it-yourselfer in so many spheres when one takes for granted an abundance of resources. Historically, Americans have regarded their country as a land of limitless wealth. The first colonists of the New World wrote letters back home, contrasting the riches of America with the poor lands from which they came.

The buffalo was hunted to near extinction, millions of acres of forested land were cut and burned, and rivers were polluted from mining. Still America is rich in natural resources. But attitudes toward wastefulness are changing. While some Americans still believe in the inexhaustibility of the nation's resources, others reluctantly recognize that the era of cheap and plentiful resources is over. They realize that America must adopt new values to cope with a shrinking world. Today, America's Mountain West, the least populated region of the country where resources seem barely tapped, is suf­fering from a severe water shortage. Westerners are faced with the need to restrict population growth and reconsider uses for water. Limits such as these are difficult to acknowledge because they contradict the psychology of abundance which has become so much a part of the American way of life.