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I really appreciate Leaves of Grass. It brings a new, fresh perspective and way to look at the world. Whitman is able to take the subtle, minute details of life and magnify them through his writing. I also appreciate his celebratory and passionate embrace of the self. While reading, I was amazed at how just one line of his poetry was packed with so much meaning and passion that it almost had as much meaning as the entire poem itself. He writes, "We consider bibles and religions divine...I do not say they are not divine / I say they have all grown out of you / ...it is you who give the life." Whitman is ultimately asking for people to look within themselves and see their potential. Instead of attributing our successes we need to look within ourselves and take credit where it is due. Whitman not only asks us to see our potential but also asks us to see the potential within others. He writes, "The prostitute is not nothing...the mocker of religion is not nothing." While asking us to see the ability of our own human spirit he is also pleading for us to see the same abilities in others, despite their socially constructed statuses.Whitman shows a passionate concern for all human beings that I don't find creepy or off-putting. I think this is a refreshing look upon an often cold, judgemental society. In fact, this society can be so judgmental and cold that my former high school, Walt Whitman High School, will be the grounds for a protest simply because it was named after someone who may have been homosexual. The protestors even say of my former school "The children that attend that high school are taught Rebellion Against God 101 every day in every way." I wonder what Whitman would think of this.