Nicole Voyles Who Are We If Not American? 4/1/11

In the grand scheme of things, we are a very varied people. Most places have either a cultural, linguistic, racial or at least hereditary similarity throughout their population. We have more than anyone can count. How is it we can all call ourselves Americans? When each of us prizes individuality so much and also a group patriotism, how do we justify either? I think out discussion on religious art can help e understand it. When we are talking about the pilgrimage through Spain, a number of types of people walking together toward a common goal made me think of patriotism. Maybe being “American” is a lot like being a pilgrim. Being American can be like being gumbo. You can have any number and combination of ingredients, and as long as it's delicious and mostly unrecognizable, it's gumbo. I would like to think of the individual parts sometimes, Asian, Anglo, Black, Red and every other color out there, and imagine what a wealth of wisdom we could share if we could simply be nicer to each other.