Whitman also justifies his position as a teacher through his experiences. In passage 16 of his poem, Whitman becomes a god-like figure who sees everything, knows everything and is everything. 
He is stating that he has experience with everything, which proves his worthiness to be the reader’s teacher. The “I am” that Whitman uses refers to himself. Although it is seen once in this stanza, it indirectly belongs to the beginning of each line. For example, the passage literally says “A southerner soon as a northerner,” but what Whitman really means is “I am a southerner soon as a northerner.” This passage proves Whitman to be a person with open perception. With open perception, Whitman is actively listening and seeing, rather than just hearing and looking. 
These affairs are few examples of many where Whitman expresses his experience in different fields of life. With this experience, he understands everything. On one hand, Whitman is definitely flaunting his experience, but on the other, he is also trying to gain acknowledgement for his godlike nature. As a teacher, Whitman wants his students to become better than he is, to surpass him. In order to do so, students have to gain experience to destroy Whitman.
	Throughout his poem, Whitman stresses the idea equality and what it means to be equal. In passage 15, he provides a list of occupations and uses imagery to help the reader create images their mind of the occupations. Whitman is careful to not miss anyone out, so he includes “the pure contralto,” “The connoisseur,” and even “The prostitute,” when addressing the issue of equality. Everyone has their own methods of working, but combining these occupations together create a nation. Every job is equally as important because if one job is lacking, the nation would not be complete. 
 In essence, everyone goes to sleep at the end of the day. Everyone contributes to the society through hard work, but in the end, everyone is equal. Because there is equality, people of a society can acknowledge one another. This acknowledgement creates a sense of belonging, and through that sense of belonging, a society can transform into a nation.
