Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Why I love America
Last night I went to a neighborhood bar with some co-workers to celebrate St. Patricks Day. The bar was very festive for the occasion with bagpipe players and a good time was had by all. An English guy I work with recently transfered here (Jersey City) from the London office. I asked him if St. Patricks day was a big deal in London. He said only for the Irish, who would all go to the pub, the English people would stay home and it would be like any other day. After he told me this, I looked around the bar and saw people of different race, ethnicity, religion and background all together, celebrating St. Patricks Day American style. At that moment I knew why I loved America. It was a wonderful feeling to see an American Flag hanging from the end of a bagpipe as it played Amazing Grace.
I stayed in a Paris youth hostel a few years ago while I was traveling in Europe. While there I met some Scandanavians who had a condescending, arrogant attitude toward America. Even though they had never been to America they none the less really enjoyed talking about all the negatives things they could think of about America. They went on about race relations, crime, the people on Jerry Springer...After they were done I said, America may not be perfect but atleast we are willing to do what your country would never dream of doing, what your counties are afraid of doing. America has welcomed all religions, all races, all creeds, all ethnicities and we have come together to build the most powerful nations on Earth. How can you put America down for having some race relations problems when your country won't even let other races in? The day your country becomes a melting pot and does it better than America, then maybe i would give a crap about your snobby opinion.
All around the world ethnic, religious and racial violence is flaring. It happens everywhere. Northern Ireland, East Timor, Kashmir, Cyprus, at Genocidal levels in Africa. Then there are the Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Armenians, Azerbajanians, Albanians, Tibetans, Israeli, Palestinean....The list goes on and on and on and on. In so many places not even two groups of people can live together or even side by side. Yet America is a vast melting pot AND a multicultural paradise, the USA has successfully become both of these things. Not only has America done it better than any other nation, we became the most powerful nation in the world.
Last night I went to a neighborhood bar with some co-workers to celebrate St. Patricks Day. The bar was very festive for the occasion with bagpipe players and a good time was had by all. An English guy I work with recently transfered here (Jersey City) from the London office. I asked him if St. Patricks day was a big deal in London. He said only for the Irish, who would all go to the pub, the English people would stay home and it would be like any other day. After he told me this, I looked around the bar and saw people of different race, ethnicity, religion and background all together, celebrating St. Patricks Day American style. At that moment I knew why I loved America. It was a wonderful feeling to see an American Flag hanging from the end of a bagpipe as it played Amazing Grace.
I stayed in a Paris youth hostel a few years ago while I was traveling in Europe. While there I met some Scandanavians who had a condescending, arrogant attitude toward America. Even though they had never been to America they none the less really enjoyed talking about all the negatives things they could think of about America. They went on about race relations, crime, the people on Jerry Springer...After they were done I said, America may not be perfect but atleast we are willing to do what your country would never dream of doing, what your counties are afraid of doing. America has welcomed all religions, all races, all creeds, all ethnicities and we have come together to build the most powerful nations on Earth. How can you put America down for having some race relations problems when your country won't even let other races in? The day your country becomes a melting pot and does it better than America, then maybe i would give a crap about your snobby opinion.
All around the world ethnic, religious and racial violence is flaring. It happens everywhere. Northern Ireland, East Timor, Kashmir, Cyprus, at Genocidal levels in Africa. Then there are the Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, Armenians, Azerbajanians, Albanians, Tibetans, Israeli, Palestinean....The list goes on and on and on and on. In so many places not even two groups of people can live together or even side by side. Yet America is a vast melting pot AND a multicultural paradise, the USA has successfully become both of these things. Not only has America done it better than any other nation, we became the most powerful nation in the world.
