What America Means To Me

Where does this begin?

America to me began with school. In the Delaware public schools, I was taught about the generational trauma of minorities in this country, a problem very much alive and well today. Now, I don’t want to begin with a negative, but often there is a price that must be paid in order to achieve freedom and harmony.

That price begins with our founding fathers, our struggle in the American revolution against old world politics, colonial taxation, and the gambit the revolution was for the founding colonists and their families. The price continues to be paid to this day, to no pleasure for me to say, with irresponsible political moves that put the health and harmony of the families who fight for our country in jeopardy.

To start, let me say this is not a political post at all. But, I was taught to feel some sadness for the generations of minorities who lived and found a little less prosperity than we have today. Not to say all minorities are prosperous today, that equality is sacred in this country to all who live in it, or even that we have equity. That is our ideal, one that we should continue to strive for.

But the thesis that I would state clearly, is that we are the petri-dish of the new world; America is a true melting pot, and one of the first of its kind, thanks in part to the wisdom of many Americans, political leaders, and Supreme Court justices, to accept and enshrine civil rights and personhood in documents that inspire and provoke deep meaning to many, to this day.

America the beautiful

America is the first-of-its-kind melting pot of civil rights, laissez faire economics, and balanced and responsible government. What I was tuaght in school, was a responsible dialog about the responsiblity of the population to elect, re-elect, and balance the persons in government to favor transparency, responsible natural resource utilization, and equity for persons of all faiths, philosophies, nationalities, and politics, such that they comply with reasonable laws.

America is beautiful. And you see it everywhere you go. Thanksgiving night in assisted living communities is actually a fairly good experience. There are families visiting the elderly, hard-working people helping the elderly, and decorations and food for all. Not every person in America has plenty, but we have plenty to be grateful for. And that includes some fundamental things that stand to be perverted by irresponsible special interests in government.

Freedom, education, and economic equity

Not everyone in this country shares the same view as me on this, but I was lucky enough to belong to a middle-class family, with grandparents, a wise and hard-working sister, and a mom and dad. This country is full of people like me, and I grew up not believing in generational trauma. That I am a valid person for learning what atrocities were committed during the founding of our still great republic. And we are a republic, not a direct democracy. We are a group, an alliance (if you will), of territories with somewhat independent regional government, local taxes, and of course, a large federal government.

We need the federal government because these smaller states rely on and need to work in unison. We call ourselves Americans after all, not Delawareans. And the Delaware government would not have the same advantages as a minority/smaller population, as the analogy serves, as we as Americans all benefit from a reasonably large federal government. We protect each other and the government in turn should protect the will of the electorate, not the elected, per-se, improper election processes, and our vulnerability to private and special interests, let alone uncapped donations from those bodies.

Now, I could have chosen to view the generational trauma as highly significant. And for some minorities, Japanese, Irish, African Americans, etc. the generational trauma may be front-stage and center in their identities and life, and as individuals we are free to determine what defines us. As a Latino, and a proud graduate of the University of Delaware, I’ve learned that not all of Western history is good history. But it’s the responsibility to maintain our virtue by educating the youth with the truth, not to overwrite it as Ron DeSantis or other revisionists that target Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and the theory of critical race theory (which is humanist in nature, not apologist or necessarily accusatory) would have our education system do against the population, to miseducate and misinform and divide people against each other.

I could have chosen to define my identity as “hot-blooded Latino” with a racist grudge against the hegemony as it stands offensive to teach one religion over others, one version of history (it didn’t), and to continue to not support or include all persons in the bounty freedom provides our nation and its individuals. I could have chosen to define my identity as “minorities first” and sometimes, I’m allowed to feel that way, as a person with a minority identity. But, that would be selective to exclude the very nice and great persons I’ve met along the way. Persons of different faiths, different philosophies and politics, persons of different colors of their skin, and persons with different values from my own.

I could have chosen to be loud and proud about my ancestry and how it wasn’t dealt a good hand by Europeans, who after killing and endangering the culture of indigenous South Americans, were good enough to help defeat racists in Europe, and still teach a fair and balanced view of history, without whitewashing America.

America you are scarred and you are tired and hungry, and yet there is still too much beauty to see your scars as ugly. America you have been my parent when my parents worked. America you were there to watch over my ageing grandparents. America you fight the ugly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq when too many of us will not fight contentious political battles overseas to protect American oil interests that were sold on the backs of disturbed terrorists murdering people on American soil.

America your scars don’t scare me. Some of your neighbors do. Some of your repressed feelings like ‘replacement theory’ do. America your eyes do not weep a tear that need not be wept at the doorstep of something far greater than you or me. America you are the first of your kind. You are the adopted child of a world left hobbling from old wars, allegiances, and grudges. But more often for the economics of national defense. To this day, you spend 20% of your income on the war machine and making more soldiers and you spend far less (5%) taking care of the soldiers you already made. America you seem irresponsible to me these days. America have you looked at your bills.

I don’t define myself against you, America

I am proud to be yours. I am proud you call people from foreign places with new cultures, languages, and customs your neighbor. America I wish more people could hear how you cry. You are a schizoid without the luxury of unified culture your older cousins from the Europe use to keep their people in lock-step. You have new voices and new children, you have countless beautiful forests, mountains, and farmlands to help keep safe. You have wounded young men, mothers that go hungry for their children not to. You have some white folk that feel they are losing this country; and no, you are just learning how to share. See? You are as young and irresponsible as me. You are as full of emotions and ideas as any of the young folks working for their bread in the streets of the metropolis.

You are still beautiful to me and I’m so glad to be your son. I am thankful for you, America. Your jagged history has not made me hate you and I’m glad you told me the truth. Thank you for the family and the friends I have that mind my successes with smiles and my failures with patience, kindness, and a firm hand and stern look. Thank you for so much and so much more than I have the words to put to text yet, so lets keep working together.

That’s what I’m thankful for on this Thanksgiving.