Rachel Montgomery
Honors Am Lit
December 19, 2011
1st- Provenzano
Burself: A Dream
A major goal for most humans is to be accepted in society. They want a sense of comfort and belonging in a society. Most of these people end up becoming conformists, doing whatever it takes to blend in with the crowd. Secretly, they have a person inside them that is unique and great, but are afraid to let anyone know. Burself, an island nation, was imaginary chain of islands created as a transcendentalist nation to give that feeling of comfort, belonging and unconditional acceptance to anyone who comes to live there. A place where external and internal affairs were taken care of by “Chiefs” and where being “green” and eco-friendly is second nature to all the citizens who live there. Burself would have a loving and understanding community that would accept all those who live there. Unfortunately though, Burself could never truly exist. There are problems that prevent Burself from coming to life. These problems are the form of government used, the inability to be truly self-sufficient, and human-nature in general, which all in some aspect, prevent its potential to be a true nation and keeps it as a dream only.
Burself tries to be as secluded as possible to leave little room for outside corruption that could lead to negative thoughts and opinions that are not welcomed in the nation. This would make self-sufficiency key to the nation of Burself. All the food and goods needed for the islands would come straight from one of the islands so there would be basically no outside interaction. Some people in the nation would work as substance farmers or factory workers to make the food and power needed for the island. This is good in the sense that it would provide jobs for those on the island and help prevent as much outside corruption as possible for the islands. Also, it creates the secluded nation Burself works hard to have and indirectly, creates a happier and healthier nation as a whole. There are problems with having that secluded of a nation and creating your own food and goods on island chain though. With creating your own food and goods on islands, there isn’t an infinite amount of space. Someone can’t just expand the agricultural area to fit the needs of the nation. What is given is the only amount the nation has. Burself, being smaller islands, wouldn’t have enough room for all the necessary foods a human diet needs. Even the demand of other necessary goods couldn’t be met by the factories there on the islands. This means that there will be importation of goods. Seclusion would no longer be an option and outside interaction would occur. This leads to more corruption entering the nation and little can be done about it. So while seclusion and self-sufficiency are great ideas to keep the nation less corrupted and healthier, it would be an unsuccessful attempt for the islands. This is why Burself is only a dream and can’t truly become a transcendentalist nation.
Burself’s government would never last and keep the order and peace it needs to survive. The government has too many flaws that could upset the citizens of the nation and cause disorder that is very carefully prevented. The government is run by leaders known as “Chiefs”. Each island has one “Chief” to deal with affairs more closely and a main “Chief” that works internal and externally for the entire nation. There is a democracy to vote for these leaders and the major issues they deal with, but the “Chiefs” are elected into office for life unless they decide to step down and retire. This was created to keep more rules free, open and have fewer obligations for the citizens to deal with. Unfortunately, if one “Chiefs” is voted into office and doesn’t do the job needed, it is very hard for those of the nation to remove them from office. This is because there are really only five “Chiefs” throughout the islands and there are really no others running the nation. So if the “Chief” does a poor job of running Burself, they could cause chaos to the citizens and disrupt the order that had been created by the “Chiefs” before them. When that happens, the transcendentalist nation can no longer exist because it will no longer be a safe haven for all people, but a nation of mass disruption. This makes Burself government easily destroyed and hard to keep in order. Since the form of government is corrupt, Burself can only remain a dream and not become an actual nation.
Burself is a nation that allows people to be themselves openly and freely without being frowned upon. This includes anyone who is gossipy, rebellious or disruptive. By being the transcendentalist nation Burself is, they can’t turn down someone for having an opinion that could be negative towards others. By doing so, the belief that Burself is a place for all who want to be accepted and feel like they belong would be false. The nation has to accept all now because of this, including those who cause chaos and disorder. They can’t be judged because they like to talk about people behind their backs or are openly opinionated. For every human brain is programmed to like certain things and find other things weird or bad. This makes everyone have different opinions on different matters. Since we want people to be open and voice their opinions, we can’t just tell them not to say anything about others because it could cause problems or hurt feelings. This goes against being a transcendentalist if opinions of others are being silenced. So by admitting these people into Burself, the nation is naturally being corrupted and becoming disorderly. Naturally, others feelings will be hurt because of their admittance and the secure and safe haven known as Burself will be destroyed. This will be going against everything Burself has fought to created and have for the people of its nation. Human nature will naturally cause all this harm to a transcendentalist nation, like Burself. So Burself can’t truly become a transcendentalist and accepting nation and will remain just a dream.
Burself is an imaginary, perfect, dream island, but can never become real. The government system is off, they can’t truly be self-sufficient and human nature in general prevents the nation from coming to life. No matter what, Burself can’t be a true transcendentalist nation without something or someone that could be a hazard or cause corruption to the nation. This leaves Burself a nation only in a dream and not reality. One day, there could be a transcendentalist nation like Burself, but only will last so long before trouble comes along.
