Stubborn As A Mule

The character of the American personality is simultaneously one of the most celebrated and envied and disliked personalities in the world. There is something so tremendously different about Americans that cannot be replicated in any other culture in the world. The Australian bawdiness, love of adventure and fun comes close but it doesn’t approach the subtleties that make Americans so unique as a people. The English temperament of humor, fussiness and perfectionism also is a good reflection of what it is to be an American. But still there is something that sets us apart even from our English, Australian, Scottish and Irish cousins that makes us the same and yet different from those cultures.

To be sure, the American stubbornness when it comes to getting the job done stands out as one of those characteristics that make Americans a truly great people. It has been celebrated in song and theater, such as the great song Iowa from the Broadway musical The Music Man which has this lyric…

And we're so by God stubborn
we can stand touchin' noses
for a week at a time
and never see eye-to-eye.
But we'll give you our shirt
and a back to go with it
if your crops should happen to die.

People from Iowa make their stubbornness a source of statewide pride but to be honest, it is a deeply ingrained part of what it is to be an American. Perhaps it is that Americans have never been afraid to take on great challenges, to “get in over their head” and take on even the impossible, especially if it means greatness for them, security for their family or national pride.

The American stubbornness was certainly on display in World War II when the world was being beaten down by what seemed to be a relentless Nazi war machine. It was the Americans who came in and took on this phenomenal menace. That war did not always go perfectly. We sustained huge losses. But Americans were too stubborn to give up. And because the American spirit could not be pushed back, it eventually prevailed, defeating Nazi Germany and it’s allies and bring victory and peace to the world.

No doubt one reason the American character is blessed by a virtually endless supply of stubborn determination is that it is part of the American experience to conquer a great continent. When those explorers set out from England to find and colonize this wild continent, those early Americans would not turn back, despite tremendous hardships. Then as the nation pushed west, pioneers conquered the wild, wild west and civilized his huge continent, sensing a “manifest destiny” for America to stretch from shore to shore. And they stubbornly did not give up until it did just that.

The amazing thing is that Americans are actually a mixture of many different nationalities, ethnic groups and points of origin. So this personality of stubborn refusal to not win is not genetic. It comes from being a member of this the greatest nation on earth. A pride, a national identification and a brotherhood of Americans seems to transform all who call themselves citizens of America and instills these outstanding qualities into their personalities as well.

And to be sure, all American share the struggle to continue to make this the greatest country on earth. Whether from the urban settings of the east coast to the small towns of the Midwest to the sprawling metropolises of the south and west, all Americans share that rugged determination to be great, both individually and as a nation. That determination is handed down generation after generation. And by that we know that not only is America the greatest nation on earth today, it will continue to be the greatest nation on earth for a long time to come.