In a previous post, I stated that a melting pot has people with multiple cultures and languages. It is possible that a few of you may have misunderstood my meaning.
Because everyone speaks their own language, we add to the diversity in America, whether they speak English or not. Regardless of a common language, we may pick up certain things from the people around us. Regardless of a common language, we still learn from others whom we can hardly understand.
Say a European family is living next door to a hispanic family. Every holiday, the Europeans observe the many relatives who come next door and they observe the family environment. Let’s suppose that the European family has members scattered across the US, and that not many of them make an attempt to come over on holidays. Their neighbors speak only Spanish,while they do not, and yet they can see what a better relationship they have with their family members. From this observation, it is possible that they may incorporate a wider span of family members on holidays.
However, that is a silly example.
I mean to say, you will learn from me and I will learn from you even if we do not speak the same language. The absence of a common language does not prevent me from talking to others and it does not prevent the makings of variety.
In America, there are various languages used, as well as many common languages, but we do not learn from each other. We are not ‘melting’ in a way. You are you and I am myself. We are a nation of adamant people who refuse to learn from our neighbors,and in that sense we will never become the melting pot that is so often spoken about. More accurately, we relate to the ‘tossed salad’ metaphor. Our diversity is so vast that it is preventing us from becoming one whole.
An excellent post on this metaphor can be found at http://thehappyconservative.com/2008/04/27/a-thirst-for-common-culture/.
1 Comment
December 15, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Wow. That really makes sense.
Never thought of it like that.