Whether their reasons are based on personal, familial, or business, each person comes to
America looking for a better chance at life. As Miller states, “our freedoms are a beacon to
millions who came here.”1 There is an idea that America is a salad bowl where people do not
change, they merely come and mix among others while keeping their cultural heritages. I think
most people might agree with this without searching for a more thorough explanation. This may
partly be because we look at other cultures such as the Hispanic community, where they are
deeply connected to their culture, and assume that everyone does this. They mix in with other
citizens in the United States but at home or when alone, they are heavily involved with their own
culture.
We should be cautious however, because this type of example not set the tone for the rest
of America. Not everyone does this. In fact, many others absorb those in which they socialize
with and begin acting like their friends do. Had certain people, from the Czech Republic for
example, never immigrated into America, we would have no knowledge of polka music. Had the
Hispanic community never immigrated, we would have no knowledge of Hispanic foods. So to
say that America is a salad bowl where no one truly conforms would be incorrect in my opinion.
We have and we do conform to other cultures, eventually making them a part of our own lives
and daily habits.
A more accurate description of America would be that of a melting pot, where everyone
just melts into one big country absorbing all cultural things around them. Smith summarizes
President Wilson’s view as, “the melting pot that was able to bring people from around the world
1 Ron Miller, "This is My Country," in SELLOUT: Musings from Uncle Tom's Porch, ed. Anita
Crane (Maitland: Xulon Press, 2010), 202
together in peace and cooperation.”2 In today’s world, we have people from literally almost every
country in the world who reside in or have become citizens of this country. This not only brings
the people to this country but also brings various types of foods, art, and literally anything else
that people can retain and bring with them. The possibilities are endless and it indeed makes
America greater because we are able to learn from all types of people and their experiences.
The most important part of this is that we begin to take after and incorporate these
cultural offerings into our own lives. This also allows us to better understand where our new
fellow Americans come from and what experiences they have had. This strengthens our
relationships and our country as a whole and helps us bridge the gap and get away from negative
past experiences such as slavery and segregation. I’m a strong believer in history as we can learn
a ton from the past. However, if we constantly focus on the bad things, we will never make
progress. As Metaxas says, “but if our focus is on what is ugly and evil and dark, we will
strangely strengthen the ugly and evil and dark.”3 America is a melting pot and we must use the
experiences and knowledge we learn from others to better ourselves and our country in order to
overcome the bad stuff in our past.
(599)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
2 David Smith, "The American melting pot: A national myth in public and popular discourse," National Identities,
(2012, Political Science Complete, EBSCOhost) (accessed April 14, 2017). http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=poh&AN=83590181&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Metaxas, Eric. If You Can Keep It: the Forgotten Promise of American Liberty. New York, NY:
Penguin Random House, 2016.
Miller, Ron. “This is My Country." In SELLOUT: Musings from Uncle Tom's Porch, edited by
Anita Crane, 199–213. Maitland: Xulon Press, 2010.
Smith, David Michael. "The American melting pot: A national myth in public and popular
discourse." National Identities 14, no. 4 (December 2012): 387-402. Political Science Complete,
EBSCOhost (accessed April 14, 2017) http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?
url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=poh&AN=83590181&site=ehost-
live&scope=site .
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)
