As the 4th of July approaches I can't help but get a bit sentimental and homesick. I'm often asked many things regarding the US. The two questions I get asked most often"don't you miss it" and "why does America do this or that" .
I can answer the first question easily, of course, I miss it. I think it would be hard for anyone leaving something they have known for 41 years behind, but that being said I don't have even one single regret about doing it. Why...because I will always be an American no matter where I am and truth be told people are people no matter what country they are from. Deep down we are the same despite differing viewpoints, cultures, etc. Home is where the heart is and mine is here. Sure I miss some things, sadly mostly revolving around food, but in my heart the US will always be there along with my new family.
Now, the second question is a bit of loaded question as we would say back in the US. I think the only way to answer it is to get to the heart of what America is. America is exactly what the world made it to be. Some will say we are aggressive, arrogant, proud and in our own little world...and that may be true, but you have to seriously look at how we got to be that way. I was having a conversation with a Dutch friend last week about a similar subject and it really got me thinking.
The United States of America was created by people who were looking for new lives. They needed freedom. Ever since those eventful days surrounding July 4th, 1776, people have come from other countries looking for freedom or at least new lives. Today, virtually every corner of the world is represented in the USA. Those orginal people, the founding fathers, had to fight for the freedom and lives they wanted and the US has been fighting that battle, one way or another, ever since. Those men fought to be able to live their lives they way saw fit. They wanted to create new lives for themselves, but not have to completely forget their backgrounds. Those founding fathers and the subsequent people that have followed brought their cultures and ideals with them and they fought to have the freedom to maintain those ideals and cultures as well as the right to change them.
Immigrants built this country. Brick by brick, railroad to railroad, literally they built the US. Irish, Chinese, Dutch, French, Russian...you name it they built the US and when they did it they created Americans as well. I often smile to myself when I'm told that something from the US has a Dutch background. Truth is, America is completely influenced by the world, but also by ourselves. Just look at some of our most popular cultural attributes, most have a tie to something somewhere else. The American musicals such as, Singin' in the Rain, Hairspray, Chicago, West Side Story, etc...have ties to opera. The hamburger has origins in Germany. The thing is, it's not where the ties came from, but what we did with them. We made them our own. Just like John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson wanted to do with the country itself. They, in essence, took the recipes that created other countries and created their own recipe to make the kind of country they wanted and we, as Americans, have been refining that recipe ever since. Many of the immigrants who came here were looking for a change, but while you may be able to change your circumstance, you can never really change who you are inside. Every immigrant is still Dutch, French, Chinese, etc...at heart, and that's what created America.
One thing that I have noticed that is different is the distinction between immigrants and natural citizens of Europe and the rest of the world. In the US, if you are Irish, once becoming a citizen you are referred to as Irish -American, but you don't hear that anywhere else. Throughout America's history there are clashes between the varying cultures that formed the country. Many of those clashes have come from the need to change old ways of thinking...to expand. In most other countries, it is more accepted to adapt to that country's culture as opposed to creating a new culture. It's the creation of a new culture that often caused these clashes in the US, but it's also what made the US who it is...a combination of everyone...a melting pot created by the world. It's apparent in the very writings of the Declaration of Independence.
So why do we do what we do...because it's part of who we are. We are what the world made us...diverse, complicated, always trying to help the little guy, but looking out for ourselves at the same time. We are the immigrant who wanted a better life, the immigrant looking to get away from a tyrannical state, the immigrant wanting freedom to change. We are what the world made us. We are at times arrogant and aggressive, at others, kind and considerate. We are a combination of what the world has had to offer over the last 235 years...the good and the bad. As for me, I'm 100% American along with my Irish, native American, and whatever else is thrown in there, background....and damn proud of it.
