How do you know when you've assimilated?
So, you've learned to speak English fluently. You make Thanksgiving Dinner with turkey and the all the rest. You've learned to text. Your kids have Face-Book pages and roll their eyes at you when you question their clothing choices. Once a week you all go out for burgers or pizza. You're wearing blue jeans and sneakers. You're cooking meatloaf, pot roast and spaghetti with the same frequency as the dishes of the 'Old Country'. You watch reality shows on television. You know who is who is politics and show biz. So, are you now an American?
Having and doing these American things is part of the total experience, but it's not the totality of it. To be an American is a state of mind, a way of thinking. Some of the world thinks this way of thinking is the 'what's in it for me' mentality. Well, they are partially right. This is the continent of the self-made man, the individual. But there are differences between drive and greed.
The Constitution prohibits bestowing titles on citizens such as Duke or King. The idea is that 'all men are created equal', meaning no-one has a higher status of being just because of the household they are born into. Do you believe that we are all equal at birth, that no babe is more 'morally superior' than any other? That's American. If you really think about it, nations with kings and rulers and dictatorships-now there is greed and selfishness at it's height.
Our nation is full of the self made man. In the beginning, we had no choice. If you wanted something done in the colonial days, you had to do it yourself. Build a house, grow some crop, go to market-it was all up to you and yours. No hand-outs, only from your church and friends if you were a decent enough fellow. Those early immigrants with genes for stamina, innovation and guts were the most successful, and left the most descendants behind. Intelligent, driven, individulistic people tend to make the same kind of offspring. It takes drive, strive and guts to emigrate to a new land. So you see, success will generally begett success, and perseverance is the key. When you encounter a successful person, are you thinking 'greedy s.o.b.'? Not American. A real American should not feel jealousy or anger toward his countrymen about financial success, but intead realize that succcess is a symptom of having drive, gumption and know-how. An American knows that he too can be successful if he applies himself, uses his natural talents and supplements those by learning new things.
The biggest American concept is 'live and let live'. The right of the individual to pursue his life as he sees fit, as long as it does not harm someone else. Don't like homeless on the street? Too bad for you, it would be un-American and un-constitutional to force them into housing if they don't want to go as long as they're 'harmless'. Hence, we live with some social problems we can not 'fix', because it's not government's job to do so. We can not force people to work. We can not force people to marry, have children, use or not use birth-control, get an education, practice safe sex, become straight or gay, be religous or not. We must be exposed to-but don't have to adopt-cultures much different than our own, some of which are obviously detramental to individual and group success. I just don't see how 'Gangsta' Rap' is beneficial to our society, especially for those who wish to move on from the injustices of the past and embrace a better future. And I find nothing American-free, open and opportunistic-about wearing a jihab or a burqa, but she has every right to do so as long as it's voluntary.
Read those last two lines again. That is my opinion, and as an American I often practice my First Ammendment rights to freedom of speech. That's what the Gangster Rapper is doing, too. Sometimes some injustice is so great, some pain so long lasting, some concept so against your norm that letting that discomfort or confusion out is the only way to deal with it. It is ok to stand up for and preach what you believe in, to try to strenghthen your flock if you will as long as you don't try to stop me from leaving if I want to.
So, if you speak out sometimes and let your opinion or ideas be heard in the crowd, if you're tolerant of the differences around you even if they seem unpleasant, if you strive to be the best at what you are doing, if you believe that you can succeed at it one day as long as you keep working at it, if you believe your children can have it better than you did, if you believe in the power of the individual, and that without the success of the individual our society would not exist-congratulations, you have assimilated.
Having and doing these American things is part of the total experience, but it's not the totality of it. To be an American is a state of mind, a way of thinking. Some of the world thinks this way of thinking is the 'what's in it for me' mentality. Well, they are partially right. This is the continent of the self-made man, the individual. But there are differences between drive and greed.
The Constitution prohibits bestowing titles on citizens such as Duke or King. The idea is that 'all men are created equal', meaning no-one has a higher status of being just because of the household they are born into. Do you believe that we are all equal at birth, that no babe is more 'morally superior' than any other? That's American. If you really think about it, nations with kings and rulers and dictatorships-now there is greed and selfishness at it's height.
Our nation is full of the self made man. In the beginning, we had no choice. If you wanted something done in the colonial days, you had to do it yourself. Build a house, grow some crop, go to market-it was all up to you and yours. No hand-outs, only from your church and friends if you were a decent enough fellow. Those early immigrants with genes for stamina, innovation and guts were the most successful, and left the most descendants behind. Intelligent, driven, individulistic people tend to make the same kind of offspring. It takes drive, strive and guts to emigrate to a new land. So you see, success will generally begett success, and perseverance is the key. When you encounter a successful person, are you thinking 'greedy s.o.b.'? Not American. A real American should not feel jealousy or anger toward his countrymen about financial success, but intead realize that succcess is a symptom of having drive, gumption and know-how. An American knows that he too can be successful if he applies himself, uses his natural talents and supplements those by learning new things.
The biggest American concept is 'live and let live'. The right of the individual to pursue his life as he sees fit, as long as it does not harm someone else. Don't like homeless on the street? Too bad for you, it would be un-American and un-constitutional to force them into housing if they don't want to go as long as they're 'harmless'. Hence, we live with some social problems we can not 'fix', because it's not government's job to do so. We can not force people to work. We can not force people to marry, have children, use or not use birth-control, get an education, practice safe sex, become straight or gay, be religous or not. We must be exposed to-but don't have to adopt-cultures much different than our own, some of which are obviously detramental to individual and group success. I just don't see how 'Gangsta' Rap' is beneficial to our society, especially for those who wish to move on from the injustices of the past and embrace a better future. And I find nothing American-free, open and opportunistic-about wearing a jihab or a burqa, but she has every right to do so as long as it's voluntary.
Read those last two lines again. That is my opinion, and as an American I often practice my First Ammendment rights to freedom of speech. That's what the Gangster Rapper is doing, too. Sometimes some injustice is so great, some pain so long lasting, some concept so against your norm that letting that discomfort or confusion out is the only way to deal with it. It is ok to stand up for and preach what you believe in, to try to strenghthen your flock if you will as long as you don't try to stop me from leaving if I want to.
So, if you speak out sometimes and let your opinion or ideas be heard in the crowd, if you're tolerant of the differences around you even if they seem unpleasant, if you strive to be the best at what you are doing, if you believe that you can succeed at it one day as long as you keep working at it, if you believe your children can have it better than you did, if you believe in the power of the individual, and that without the success of the individual our society would not exist-congratulations, you have assimilated.