Dear Walt Whitman

I offer you a sad truth:

The modern United States is not what you envisioned back in 1855. Of course, as you once said, America is still a nation of nations, but it is now a nation of nations divided. Individuals now argue day and night about what is best for our nation’s future. 

No, America has not become the country you envisioned it to be. Wealth disparity remains; currently, if you are ‘common’ rather than rich and white, you are ignored. Individuals are given less and treated as less by those who have more. Elections are still not seen as the president working for the people; instead, the people currently work for the president. So much of the nation remains the same as it was in your day; many would still claim the nation as unfair. Day after day, people are still shot and killed. People are still threatened and hurt. I argue that there is no longer the country pride you deeply felt for the United States.

In many ways, I wish that my America was more similar to the America you envisioned. Though your ideals, of course, had flaws, you envisioned a great nation of nations run by the people together. Your imagined America brought poets out of the dark and rewarded them for their gifts and souls. You thought of a nation where the intellectuals ran the states. Your nation was a place for me; I crave your world, Walt Whitman. 

Thank you for your thoughts,

-Hannah Herron