In Which There is Some Reflection on Culture
I've often heard a rather famous part of this poem quoted, but I can't remember if I'd ever actually read the whole thing. As engraved on a pillar supporting the Statue of Liberty:
The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
This is part of the reason I don't feel the need to hearken back to my Irish/English/Sioux/mutt roots. I know that a lot of Americans tend to have a sense of cultural crisis. It seems that a lot of those aspects of American culture (i.e. apple pie and baseball, etc) have had the purity strangled out of them by politicians and xenophobic zealots who have taken to defining their particular view on life as "The American Way." People have long used Americanism as a platform to springboard their own agendas, to the point where a good deal of the population has reached a point where we're almost embarrassed by those tenants that once defined our country. Most people I talk to want to move away, to Ireland, to England, to Japan... some place that has a cultural identity that isn't so ambiguous and contaminated with greed. I, too, admire the richness of other cultures, and even adopt certain aspects of it in my personal life. I feel compelled, however, to point out that other countries have their flaws just as we do.
Still, I think the problem is that our country is relatively young. We had a tumultuous upstart, based in a fiery passion for independence and freedom. That has been the basis of our culture: We Are Free, and yes, I am very glad to be part of this country.
However, I feel that the overarching tenant that defines our culture is a sense of change and rebellion. This every-moving, ever creating and destroying society gives birth to great innovation and new perspectives, but it fails to keep anything that gives us a sense of identity. No one is really proud to say that their ancestry is so muddled over the generations that they might be an infinitesimal fraction of a given ancestry, but should they have a German last name, they latch on to that heritage. I can't say I blame them. These days, declaring your pride in being an American is typically associated with laziness, excessive consumption of watery beer, and an obsessive compulsion to care only about America and nothing about the affairs of the world. Likewise, even among our own compatriots we are often judged as being American or not.
(At this point I could get into a rant about how the locals in my area have deemed me some sort of untrustworthy foreigner due to my complete apathy with regard to football, most specifically the ravenous blood feud between two regional teams, but I will spare you the headache).
To return to the original point, I think that American pride is, in a lot of ways, directed away from our humble beginnings. As a whole, the majority of the American population descended from poor outcasts from other countries, of individuals fleeing religious and political oppression, wanting only to eek out a meager life in the land of promise. I hail, in infinitesimal part, from a family of no-nonsense farmers. Their history is humble and not particularly stunning in any way, but over the generations we have turned out physicists, writers, electronic warfare experts... teachers, accountants, criminologists, soldiers... we have created a rich familial history on the fertile soil of a land that was once populated by the meek, but proud, huddled masses seeking out a life in an uncertain world. I am humbled by my genetic history, but also uplifted. I read Emma Lazarus' poem and I take pride that our country has been built on the backs of the hopeful, on the brave, and on those who struggled through and created something greater than anyone ever expected.
I am proud of my country, and I seek to honor the memory of those who came before me who have made this all possible. I wish there was a way to impart this upon the xenophobic, upon those who disparage against any American or foreign national who doesn't fit a preconceived idea of what an "American" looks like. We are a diverse people, and we have built all of this side by side.
The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
This is part of the reason I don't feel the need to hearken back to my Irish/English/Sioux/mutt roots. I know that a lot of Americans tend to have a sense of cultural crisis. It seems that a lot of those aspects of American culture (i.e. apple pie and baseball, etc) have had the purity strangled out of them by politicians and xenophobic zealots who have taken to defining their particular view on life as "The American Way." People have long used Americanism as a platform to springboard their own agendas, to the point where a good deal of the population has reached a point where we're almost embarrassed by those tenants that once defined our country. Most people I talk to want to move away, to Ireland, to England, to Japan... some place that has a cultural identity that isn't so ambiguous and contaminated with greed. I, too, admire the richness of other cultures, and even adopt certain aspects of it in my personal life. I feel compelled, however, to point out that other countries have their flaws just as we do.
Still, I think the problem is that our country is relatively young. We had a tumultuous upstart, based in a fiery passion for independence and freedom. That has been the basis of our culture: We Are Free, and yes, I am very glad to be part of this country.
However, I feel that the overarching tenant that defines our culture is a sense of change and rebellion. This every-moving, ever creating and destroying society gives birth to great innovation and new perspectives, but it fails to keep anything that gives us a sense of identity. No one is really proud to say that their ancestry is so muddled over the generations that they might be an infinitesimal fraction of a given ancestry, but should they have a German last name, they latch on to that heritage. I can't say I blame them. These days, declaring your pride in being an American is typically associated with laziness, excessive consumption of watery beer, and an obsessive compulsion to care only about America and nothing about the affairs of the world. Likewise, even among our own compatriots we are often judged as being American or not.
(At this point I could get into a rant about how the locals in my area have deemed me some sort of untrustworthy foreigner due to my complete apathy with regard to football, most specifically the ravenous blood feud between two regional teams, but I will spare you the headache).
To return to the original point, I think that American pride is, in a lot of ways, directed away from our humble beginnings. As a whole, the majority of the American population descended from poor outcasts from other countries, of individuals fleeing religious and political oppression, wanting only to eek out a meager life in the land of promise. I hail, in infinitesimal part, from a family of no-nonsense farmers. Their history is humble and not particularly stunning in any way, but over the generations we have turned out physicists, writers, electronic warfare experts... teachers, accountants, criminologists, soldiers... we have created a rich familial history on the fertile soil of a land that was once populated by the meek, but proud, huddled masses seeking out a life in an uncertain world. I am humbled by my genetic history, but also uplifted. I read Emma Lazarus' poem and I take pride that our country has been built on the backs of the hopeful, on the brave, and on those who struggled through and created something greater than anyone ever expected.
I am proud of my country, and I seek to honor the memory of those who came before me who have made this all possible. I wish there was a way to impart this upon the xenophobic, upon those who disparage against any American or foreign national who doesn't fit a preconceived idea of what an "American" looks like. We are a diverse people, and we have built all of this side by side.