Wednesday, September 07, 2005
The melting pot
One of my favorite courses in college was one on US immigration and looking at the effect all these incoming peoples had on the culture and history of the country. Well it seems that the hurricane disaster in the south is writing a new chapter in the story of the American melting pot.
Today I have heard a number of stories about the foreign countries large and small, wealthy and not so wealthy, near and far that are sending or offering aid. These offers range from money, to equipment, to food and other necessities, to oil, to people with specific skills. These stories really touched me. Listening to various ambassadors and other representatives talk there were two main themes.
One was that some of their people lived in the affected areas and so to what ever degree possible they wanted to be of help on their behalf. This connection is fairly obvious in cases of the link between New Orleans Creole population and the countries of France and Canada. The connection to places like Bosnia Hertsogovenia may be less obvious, at least to me. That to me though is part of the beauty and strength of this country (even while it is sometimes part of the frustration). We are a big melting pot and all of those other places are part of us and in a way we are part of them and that provides a set of connections that just isn't the same anywhere else.
The other is that we (the US) are generally on the giving end of the stick rather then the receiving. The ambassador from Sweden said that even while frustrated by red tape holding up the movement of the things they want to donate they are highly motivated to persevere and help. Why? Because of what they saw in both the help given by and the attitude of the Americans providing aid in Indonesia after the tsunami, when over 500 vacationing Swedes were killed and many others injured. There is a seeming disbelief that we should need help from others. For the media this seems to feed into the American is unprepared and ineffectual story line. While there may be legitimate problems that we need to address in how all this is being handled it should not be seen as weakness to accept help freely offered, or even to ask for it.
It is a reminder to me of a number of things...
-To be thankful for the diversity that is America, even when I am frustrated by it.
-To be humble and willing to accept help when it is offered. To accept help freely offered, or even to ask for it is not weakness, especially when you have a need. It is a way of allowing others to do God's work in your life.
-To realize that for all the bad press we hear about our own country's image overseas that it may not be as bad as it looks and that people do see the good done by us too.
-God provides in mysterious ways for his people and to build bridges between parts of his broken creation. We are not meant to be loners, either as individuals or as nations but a part of the fellowship of God's people world wide.
Today I have heard a number of stories about the foreign countries large and small, wealthy and not so wealthy, near and far that are sending or offering aid. These offers range from money, to equipment, to food and other necessities, to oil, to people with specific skills. These stories really touched me. Listening to various ambassadors and other representatives talk there were two main themes.
One was that some of their people lived in the affected areas and so to what ever degree possible they wanted to be of help on their behalf. This connection is fairly obvious in cases of the link between New Orleans Creole population and the countries of France and Canada. The connection to places like Bosnia Hertsogovenia may be less obvious, at least to me. That to me though is part of the beauty and strength of this country (even while it is sometimes part of the frustration). We are a big melting pot and all of those other places are part of us and in a way we are part of them and that provides a set of connections that just isn't the same anywhere else.
The other is that we (the US) are generally on the giving end of the stick rather then the receiving. The ambassador from Sweden said that even while frustrated by red tape holding up the movement of the things they want to donate they are highly motivated to persevere and help. Why? Because of what they saw in both the help given by and the attitude of the Americans providing aid in Indonesia after the tsunami, when over 500 vacationing Swedes were killed and many others injured. There is a seeming disbelief that we should need help from others. For the media this seems to feed into the American is unprepared and ineffectual story line. While there may be legitimate problems that we need to address in how all this is being handled it should not be seen as weakness to accept help freely offered, or even to ask for it.
It is a reminder to me of a number of things...
-To be thankful for the diversity that is America, even when I am frustrated by it.
-To be humble and willing to accept help when it is offered. To accept help freely offered, or even to ask for it is not weakness, especially when you have a need. It is a way of allowing others to do God's work in your life.
-To realize that for all the bad press we hear about our own country's image overseas that it may not be as bad as it looks and that people do see the good done by us too.
-God provides in mysterious ways for his people and to build bridges between parts of his broken creation. We are not meant to be loners, either as individuals or as nations but a part of the fellowship of God's people world wide.
Comments:
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Great post! I was wondering what will happen if all these people are spread out across the country... to their accents! That region has such a specific sound, you know, and I would hate to see that be buffered or softened.
:)
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