I caught the tail end of this on NPR driving into work this morning and was touched by the parts I heard. I was bummed that I missed the beginning but then I remembered a key thing. This being an NPR broadcast, I was able to find the recording online where you can listen to the whole documentary of this remarkable series.

If you don’t know what This I Believe is, it’s basically a radio segment that airs during different NPR shows that features an essay by any person, usually American about what they believe. I never knew the history of the series, which was started in the 50s and hosted by legend Edward R. Murrow. The modern incarnation on NPR features regular folk and on many mornings I’m struck by how eloquent and honest they are.

There’s a podcast for the modern incarnation (iTunes link).

You can submit your own essay at ThisIBelieve.org, or read selected essays online or in the This I Believe book.

I’ll give you a taste of these essays here. The original 1950s show featured distinguished Americans and world figures rather than regular Americans. I’d like to leave you with Robert Heinlein’s essay, which you can listen to at the web site above or in the documentary:

Our Noble, Essential Decency

I am not going to talk about religious beliefs but about matters so obvious that it has gone out of style to mention them. I believe in my neighbors. I know their faults, and I know that their virtues far outweigh their faults.

Take Father Michael, down our road apiece. I’m not of his creed, but I know that goodness and charity and loving kindness shine in his daily actions. I believe in Father Mike. If I’m in trouble, I’ll go to him. My next door neighbor’s a veterinary doctor. Doc will get out of bed after a hard day to help a stray cat—no fee, no prospect of a fee. I believe in Doc.

I believe in my townspeople. You can knock on any door in our town, say “I’m hungry,” and you’ll be fed. Our town is no exception. I found the same ready charity everywhere. For the one who says, “The heck with you, I’ve got mine,” there are a hundred, a thousand, who will say, “Sure pal, sit down.” I know that despite all warnings against hitchhikers, I can step to the highway, thumb for a ride, and in a few minutes a car or a truck will stop and someone will say, “Climb in Mack. How far you going?”

I believe in my fellow citizens. Our headlines are splashed with crime. Yet for every criminal, there are ten thousand honest, decent, kindly men. If it were not so, no child would live to grow up. Business could not go on from day to day. Decency is not news. It is buried in the obituaries, but it is a force stronger than crime.

I believe in the patient gallantry of nurses, in the tedious sacrifices of teachers. I believe in the unseen and unending fight against desperate odds that goes on quietly in almost every home in the land. I believe in the honest craft of workmen. Take a look around you. There never were enough bosses to check up on all that work. From Independence Hall to the Grand Coulee Dam, these things were built level and square by craftsmen who were honest in their bones.

I believe that almost all politicians are honest. For every bribed alderman, there are hundreds of politicians—low paid or not paid at all—doing their level best without thanks or glory to make our system work. If this were not true, we would never have gotten past the Thirteen Colonies.

I believe in Rodger Young. You and I are free today because of endless unnamed heroes from Valley Forge to the Yalu River. I believe in—I am proud to belong to—the United States. Despite shortcomings—from lynchings, to bad faith in high places—our nation has had the most decent and kindly internal practices and foreign policies to be found anywhere in history.

And finally, I believe in my whole race—yellow, white, black, red, brown—in the honesty, courage, intelligence, durability, and goodness of the overwhelming majority of my brothers and sisters everywhere on this planet. I am proud to be a human being. I believe that we have come this far by the skin of our teeth—that we always make it just for the skin of our teeth—but that we will always make it, survive, endure.

I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching oversized braincase and the opposable thumb—this animal barely up from the apes—will endure, will endure longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets—to the stars and beyond—carrying with him his honesty, his insatiable curiosity, his unlimited courage, and his noble essential decency. This I believe with all my heart.

Powerful stuff.

I was watching something the other day, and I can’t remember what network it was or when, even, but I caught the tail end of this documentary which basically followed two Western men who were allowed to go to North Korea and film a documentary. Because it was officially sanctioned, they were taken to see the sights by “approved” guides, in approved cars, through approved streets. The surreal quality of the guides and people they interacted with was overwhelming. I caught this by accident and ended up watching the rest of it.

I didn’t catch the name, but some Googling tonight turned up this link which makes me think that I saw Welcome to North Korea. This was brilliant and highly recommended.

If you have an hour to spare, you can download the movie at the link above or here. You won’t be disappointed.

Heidi and I just watched the documentary Street Fight which covers the 2002 election for mayor of Newark between 16-year incumbent Sharpe James and young council member Cory Booker. We saw the film on P.O.V., PBS’s point-of-view documentary series (highly recommended by the way). The movie is narrated and directed by Marshall Curry.

I have grown up believing in the rule of law and, more importantly, the dominance of the rule of law over the rule of power. I follow the rules because I think it’s right. More importantly, I think it’s the American way. All of our ideas about the American dream or about fair play are all built around the idea that we are all equal before the law and other Americans. Clearly, I’ve grown up and become a bit less naive and perhaps even a bit cynical in the years since grade school, but I still believe that we should and do strive for this ideal every day.

Modern American politics makes it hard to believe this stuff, though. Street Fight goes through another modern example of power triumphing over the rule of law. Shot primarily from the perspective of the Booker campaign, the documentary shows numerous examples of outright lying by the incumbent, lying specifically targeted at hot-button issues for Newark residents. For the primarily African-American and Christian communities, James supporters claimed that the African-American Booker was white, supported by Jews and Republicans, and was a member of the KKK. James himself was quoted in major publications as saying these very things. The mayor threatened businesses that supported Booker, closing down clubs and halls holding Booker events or having police and city workers remove Booker signs while ignoring the James signs.

That’s not the America I believe in.

It seems to be modern American politics, though. Sharpe James feels comfortable about walking up to a TV camera and lying straight into it. George Bush feels comfortable walking up to a podium and lying right into it. Whether it’s about how much money his opponent is raising or whether he’s working to reduce budget deficits, both of their crimes and the damage they cause is the same. They are lies intended to muddy the debate. These lies make it easier for the next guy to lie and the next guy to ignore it. It makes the press complacent when the few reporters who stand up and report this stuff are treated like pariahs or, worse, ignored.

I know that American politics haven’t been perfect, and I know my history well enough to know of the louts and the corruption that have plagued all the major parties at some point. I just don’t want to accept it. I hope the citizens of Newark feel that way in 2006. No matter how much you like the politics of a candidate, if he walks all over our democracy he doesn’t deserve your vote.

You can always vote the new guy out, you know.

You can read what other blogs are saying about Street Fight, too.