A Quilt of a Country: Out of Many, One? by Anna Quindlen was very well written piece about how America is made up from so many different people from all over the world. It is a patchword piece and no two pieces are the same. This is a country where we do not strive to all be the same, but have freedom to basically do whatever we please. "The United States was built in nobody's image"-Daniel Boorstin.
This piece really made me think about what an American really is. "No matter what the English-only advocates try to suggest, the new immigrants are not so different from our own parents or grandparents." (pg.17) So many of us today complain about a certain race, lifestyle, or groups of people and say that they shouldn't be here for numerous reasons. That they need to go back where they came from and stop taking our jobs etc.. But before we judge any of the immigrants we need to think back and relieze that the same reasons why our own grandparents and great grandparents came to this country are the exact same reasons people from all over the world are doing the same thing today. America from the begining has been about a new chance a life, a better hope for the future, and freedom from religion amoungest many other things. "Patriotism is partly taking pride in the unlikely ability to throw all of us together in a country that across its length and breadth is as different as a dozen countries, and still be able to call is by one name." Immigrants is what makes the United States the United States and we need to take pride in that.
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What you wrote is really exactly what we all should be paying attention to. Immigrants really are what the United States is all about and I without a doubt agree that without them America would simply not be America. Living in Fort Myers you hear a lot about immigrants, but I think the only thing people should talk about would be the illegal immigrants because they do not take part in many things that we citizens provide to our country to keep it going. Otherwise America is immigrants from all over the world who all work together to create a better life.
ReplyDeleteYou are correct in saying we should all look at our own ancestors and how we ended up here before we down others for the same thing. I believe that America was a place of refuge for our immigrant ancestors and is for the modern day immigrants. My only difference is that I believe when the immigrants come to the United States they should come legally. The people of the past landed in new york and other ports and most stepped onto the land legally. The people immigrating now should do the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your ideas on this article completely. America is a mixture of many different people from other countries all over the world and this country would simply not be what it is today if it were not for the diversity. It does provide a better future and a new chance at life compared to most developing countries around the world.
ReplyDeleteI Liked this story for the same reasons. The author of this story really knows how to make you think. She also keeps the topics relevant with current day immigration and current day conflicts. I think saying that Americans only come together in times of tragedy is a sad truth though. Americans should be able to cast away their ethnicity's to just be an "American". Then, tragedy or not, we could come to know and rely on each other through out each day, but that would just be a perfect world wouldn't it?
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. I think that america would not be the same if it weren't for the new cultures and religions that come in everyday. We as a nation need to learn how to accept the new things that come in our world and not judge them or segregate them but embrace and learn from them.I really like how you bring in our ancestors and bring forth a great argument. why should we stop people from do what our grandparents did ? why should we stop families from becoming the best they could be ? No one stopped us.
ReplyDeleteI am an immigrant myself and I can, in some way, understand why people feel disgruntled with immigrants. Immigrants are different, they are not "Americanized" and I believe I'm halfway there. The reason why our ancestors came to America in the first place is for freedom, opportunity and security; essentially the things that their country could not provide. I agree that we should remember our roots and how this country became what it is today.
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