AMERICA THE GREAT MELTING POT

AMERICA – THE GREAT MELTING POT?

                I said in a previous post that I didn’t want people to think I was a bigot, but in reality all of us are biased in some way. We fear the unknown, like death, people with different religions, different races, different politics, different nationalities and yes, young men in hoodies in the middle of the night, regardless of race. The story is told of a soldier who had just killed one of his enemies. As he is examining the body, he finds a picture of the dead soldier’s wife and kids in his wallet. For a moment he is stunned because it didn’t seem possible that an enemy would have a family like he did. The children would cry because they had lost their daddy, just like his would if he had been killed instead of the enemy. We often objectify people we don’t know as if they weren’t in many ways just like us. That black (or white) person walking down the street loves like we do, works a job, goes to church, sleeps, watches TV, plays ball with his kids. He is us with a different color on the outside. Why are we afraid? Scientists might say it is because we evolved that way so we could survive in the hostile world that our long ago ancestors lived in. Religion might indicate that it is because the natural man, who is an enemy to God, needs to be overcome.

The United States used to be called the great melting pot. It meant that people were coming into the U.S. from all over the world, but that sometime after they arrived they became Americanized. They adopted the language as their own and tried to fit in. Some people even changed their names so that they sounded American. They did lose some of their culture, but they gained a new culture in the process. We all became blended.  It helped to make us unified. At first there were the Irish, the Italians, the Germans, the Russians, the Puerto Ricans, or sometimes whatever foul name some would use to vilify them. Now they/we are all just Americans to most of us – no more fear. This has changed recently. Now many people who come to America want to also keep what they left behind. They come here for freedom and for the monetary advantage, but they want the same language and culture that they had in their old country, the best of both worlds so to speak.

                Unfortunately, this then breaks us up into subgroups and accentuates our differences rather than emphasizing our similarities. It seems to me that there is a balance that can be achieved if we want to maintain peace. We should all speak the same language, especially if members who are not in our group are around. We should teach our children to do the same. We should maintain elements of our cultures in our homes, but only those that do not separate us too much from the average American. Obviously, we should all also try to appreciate the differences that remain, instead of using them to separate ourselves from others. In order to be more politically correct, our society now asks us to do something which for most is very difficult, i.e. accept all cultures as our own, even if they are kind of “in your face” with it. Let’s admit that this is not that easy, and try to be more of a melting pot and less like a buffet. I fear if we don’t come together we could tear ourselves and our country apart.

                When I was young, our generation wanted everyone to love everyone else. Today many young people preach open borders and equal everything for all people. These are worthy ideals, but today’s kids probably have about as much of a chance of reaching their goals as we did. God placed enmity on the earth during the time of Adam and Eve, and it will not leave until Jesus comes back to usher in the millennial reign. When He removes enmity, then we will all get along with each other. Until then we can only manage it on a piecemeal basis, so there will until then always be people who are afraid of or don’t get along with people who are different than they are. I’m not saying we shouldn’t try to be inclusive, just that some people will not be able to change. Let’s not tear our country apart because we insist on being too different.

Elmer Grubbs

A semi-rational conservative