MELECKI: America won't stop believin'

What defines America? It's a question I've been contemplating for a while now. My dad, an avid baseball fan, has been telling me since day one that baseball is the great American pastime. No offense to baseball, because it is great, but I just don't think it includes all Americans.

As I thought about it, I realized I'm not even sure it's possible to sum up the diverse population we encompass with just one symbol. So I started thinking about categories of symbols. And in the most unassuming place it came to me. Music.

Now, obviously music isn't an American invention, and by no means is every great song American. But in the States, we tend to find a few songs we like and stick with them, sometimes until we've played them one too many times.

Just last Friday I stood in a bar around midnight crowded between all of the college kids who were excited for Friday, Husker football, booze and God knows what else. Granted most of them were intoxicated, so it took them a few seconds, but once they figured out the song, the entire place began to sing along. If you would've been there, I'm guessing you would have, too. "Just a small town girl, livin' in a lonely world / She took the midnight train goin' anywhere."

We all know the band Journey. We live in America, so it's inevitable, right? We know their hit songs, "Any Way You Want It," "Open Arms," "Faithfully," and of course the all-time classic, "Don't Stop Believin'."

It doesn't matter if you're 16 or 60, when you hear Journey your ears perk up. You can be a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent. Hell, you can even be a Libertarian. It doesn't matter. You still know Journey.

You can love them, hate them or care less, but I'm willing to bet you've heard their music more than once, and you've at least taken note of it. A lot of you probably know the lyrics, even those of you who wish Journey would rot in hell.

It never fails that no matter where I am, when I hear those lyrics I stop to sing along, and everyone around me does, too. "Just a city boy, born and raised in South Detroit / He took the midnight train goin' anywhere."

For example, I recently sat in my car at a red light and heard the opening chord to the infamous "Don't Stop Believin'." I immediately cranked the volume and rolled down the window so I could sing at the top of my lungs when I heard a familiar sound. The person in the car next to me was listening to the same station and had done the exact same thing! Neither one of us was embarrassed at all. Instead, we just sang in chorus.

In a nation where we are growing further and further ideologically apart, we need to find the little things like Journey to remind us of our shared identity. Granted, five middle-aged rockers may not be the image we want to go for, but you get the point.

It's amazing what this song does to people. We forget about the clique we came with and get lost in the crowd. We can't wait for the chorus. "Don't stop believin', hold onto that feelin'/ streetlight people, woooahhhh." And then, almost in unison, we go into the air guitar solo.

But the America I live in is a very different American than many people live in. I am white, upper-middle class, very privileged. I've never dealt with many of the issues that so many Americans face, and as a consequence, I may not be able to sing along when their signature song starts playing. But is this such a bad thing? Not to me. I'm always up for a new song.

In reality, today's America probably needs about 50 karaoke hits for the nation to sing in the bar on a Friday night. We have become a nation of diversity, a nation that embraces the differences in people and accepts them because of, not in spite of, what makes them unique.