The resilience of the American people is a major aspect of the nation’s cultural identity. The trait
is clearly displayed through multiple situations throughout its history. Many tragedies have brought the
positive attribute to light and have helped the public to understand how important it is. While many do
display resilience, they do not understand the true meaning of the word. PBS defines it as the “ability to
withstand stress and catastrophe.” When paired with their definition, it is clear that citizens of America
do live up to the standards. The resilience of the American people is fundamental to their cultural
identity because it pulls them from catastrophe, allows them to adapt and overcome, and closely
follows the common definition of the term.
Americans’ extreme resilience makes recovery from disaster seem simple. There have been
multiple negative events throughout American history that have caused living standards to drop, but
there is always a recovery. In his article “America’s Amazing Resilience,” James Lewis refers to the most
recent of these tragedies when saying, “Three thousand people died in a few hours; but in weeks the
country was fighting back in the frozen mountains of Afghanistan.” It goes to show that there truly is no
situation that the American people will not quickly pick themselves up from and strike back. There is no
keeping the nation down as a whole. Lewis goes on to states that our economy did not fail either. The
digital nature of Wall Street American resilience is stronger than ever. In reference to the 9/11
catastrophes he states, “New York City took the biggest terrorist hit, but ‘Wall Street’ did not crumble.
Wall Street is now virtual, not bricks-and-mortar” (Lewis). The statement is attempting to not only
display the resilience of the people in their ability to maintain a somewhat stable marketplace, but also
the reason for their outstanding resilience.
While it did not occur as a quick, simple catastrophe, the Cold War definitely has relevance to
the American resilience. The beginning of it is easily classified as a catastrophe due to the immense
psychological effect it had on its citizens. As stated in Stephen E. Flynn’s “American the Resilient”, “The
fate of millions was placed in the hands of a few”. This brought rise to an era of uncertainty. The same
fear that was lived out for years after the terrorists attacks of September 11 was instead stretched out
over decades. Many lived with the very real fear that a nuclear warhead could land in their backyard and
wipe out their whole family. Instead of dwelling on these facts and having each member of society
shrink into their own corners and hide, daily life went on. Flynn goes on to state that, “But responding to
today's challenges, the threats of terrorism and natural disasters, requires the broad engagement of civil
society” (Flynn). Clearly Americans displayed resilience, as defined by Flynn, due to the ability of the
people to make it through this event and soon regain a sense of national security. This ability to
repeatedly bounce back is what makes the Americans who they are.
This same trait actually brought rise to the country. Early in American history, nothing came
easy. The world around them was a hostile environment just waiting to kill them if they took a wrong
step. Nothing was simple handed to them. Everything they wanted had to be taken or earned.
Occasionally, things did not go quite as planned. In his article Flynn states that, “Americans willingly
ventured into the wild to build better lives” (Flynn). Seeing as America is the world power it is today, it is
apparent that the resilience of even young America was enough to survive, overcome, and prosper given
only challenges. This fact not only defines an American, but is the reason that the nation is still here
today.
Through many tragic events, it is clear that the resilience of the American people clearly aligns
with the common definition. The various events that have shaped our nation have ended positively only
because of this simple idea. As stated earlier, PBS defines resilience as “the capacity to withstand stress
and catastrophe”. This definition can be easily applied to a disaster such as the 9/11 catastrophe or the
bombing of Pearl Harbor. In both occasions, many people were killed with no warning. This sent the
nation into a spiral of fear which it eventually recovered from. In modern day America, there is no
longer an imminent fear of destruction from an axis power invasion and there is a much larger sense of
confidence after strengthened defenses.
In order to fully understand the resilience’s common meaning, one should refer to a public
sharing website such as Wikipedia. It defines resilience as “an individual’s ability to properly adapt to
stress.” While it does state it applies to an individual, it can be gathered that the term applied to many,
if not all, Americans allows us to use it as a defining characteristic. When viewing this term along with
the previously stated points, resilience is displayed. Early Americans would have stood no chance
adapting to an entirely new world had they not been able to adapt to stress. Diving into an environment
that is completely prepared and equipped to kill at any given time would cause a large amount of stress.
Even with this constant strain they were able to overcome and create the great nation that stands
today. Early Americans truly did adapt to the stress and come out on top.
In conclusion, the American people have in many situations displayed resilience. Very little of
what is known as “America the Great” would not exist today had it not been for this key attribute. The
ability of the citizens of this nation to face adversity and not only survive, but prosper is what truly
defines being an American. Through these various historical events, it is clear that the resilience of the
American people is a key component of their cultural identity because it pulls them from catastrophe,
allows them to adapt and overcome, and is able to follow both the common and literal definition of the
term.
RUBRIC