Far too often we forget how lucky we are
to live in America. When our life’s lottery ticket was punched we
definitely hit the jackpot. Every so often it’s good to remind ourselves
what it is that makes our country so special.
The
recipe that made America great calls for one giant melting pot that has
been well oiled by freedom. The main ingredient is that someone in your
family came here from someplace else. They came so they wouldn’t have
to goose step in some May Day parade, hide their faces behind a veil,
live on their knees or wouldn’t have to crack the heels of their boots
together and “sieg heil” anyone ever again. They live here so they
wouldn’t have to live in fear of being imprisoned for having a contrary
opinion. They came to America so they could dare to dream their own
dreams and live their own lives, not one dictated by a despot, tyrant,
potentate or dictator.
In this melting
pot slowly stir in American Indians and their culture of spirituality,
respect for their elders and love of the land. Then add thousands of
Chinese who left a homeland that would have hung them for trying to
leave. The Chinese came anyway even though they were despised and
would’ve been hung on the nearest tree for doing anything wrong. They
came to build a railroad, the Central Pacific, from Sacramento over and
through the mighty Sierra’s to Promontory Point and now their
descendants are graduating with honors from Stanford and building tech
companies worth billions of dollars.
Our
recipe calls for a big glass full of Irish. If the Chinese built the
western part of the rails it was the Irish who laid the eastern ones.
The Irish left a worn out land that offered them only poverty and
starvation, to a new country that suited them well. After the bare
knuckled brawlers helped build the railroads they built our towns and
cities too. Today you can still walk into neighborhood pubs in America,
hear a bit of the Irish brogue and swear you were back in Dublin.
Don’t forget to add Italians, Germans and other Europeans who came first
for the gold and then the silver in the Comstock Load. When their gold
pans and sluice boxes came up empty they mined the miners. A German
named Levi sold them denim pants, an Italian named Giannini built Bank
of America and thousands of other immigrants started companies that
still stand today.
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