For years I've heard the United States referred to as a "melting pot". The idea being that it's made up of many different cultures blending as one. I never gave it much thought. Seemed accurate as I know and have known people from many different cultures throughout my life but, are we really blending together as one? Is that even possible? I guess it's debatable but I'm not interested in the debate. I'm interested in finding balance. An updated term for the U.S. is "salad bowl" (I didn't make that up). Makes more sense. A variety of cultures living together, but are we truly "living" together or are we constantly attempting to force one culture to follow your own? This country has a tumultuous past, to say the least, but don't all countries? The difference is the age of the country so it's easy to look at our short history and tear apart the wrong doing. I'm not defending or justifying the wrong doing, just pointing out that it seems inevitable when cultures collide (and force other cultures to go along against their will). We will likely never agree with one another. This group is not going to convince that group to change their minds. We need to instead accept one another as is, try to understand one another as humans and find solutions. What we really need is a common enemy to truly unite us. I'm not saying that I'm hoping for an alien attack, but I am saying it would be a cure for what ails us (all of us). I'm no genius but my guess is that's not likely to happen so we should probably get our acts together and find some common ground before the whole damn thing falls apart.
Side note...please don't misinterpret this as me condoning extremists that are set on violence or hatred of others. This is obviously a huge topic and this short blog post isn't the place for the discussion. Besides, I just make stuff and hope it brings you a little joy...what do I know about the politics of millions of people trying get along in an ever shrinking world?
Anthony
