Response to “A Night in Bruce Springsteen’s America”

I thought that this story was really interesting in its subject. At its core, its a story about death, life, and perspective — all wrapped up in an experience at a concert. All in the same venue hall, there are many different people experiencing many different things. First, there is Springsteen himself, singing about the American value of hard work, with thousands of fans singing along with him. Next, there is the black employee working hard to make ends meet. We have the older man who is wondering whether another celebrity is going to be killed this night, like what happened at the last Springsteen concert he had gone to. And finally, we have the narrator, who after just passing through Ferguson, Missouri, was reminded that there are people being killed every night.

We all live in this one world, yet we all see it, experience it, and contemplate it differently. One person may be celebrating the life they have, one may be fearing their life and its unforeseen end. In a sea of people rejoicing that it is the weekend, one may not notice the tired employee sitting on the stairs or be thinking about the black lives lost all the time in this country. This story is important because it highlights the disconnect between many people in America, where we often times find ourselves stuck in our own sphere’s and not thinking of the lives of those around us.