The Beauty ... and Privilege...of Being an American!

I am a naturalized citizen of the United States, and I'm so proud of that identity.

It's not that I don't appreciate having been born in my native country, Guyana, South America, and spending my early years, through Age 15, there. But, I just LOVE being an American!

There is so much to the American "Spirit" that captures my Soul. I know that absolutely NO mistakes were made in the process of getting me to go from there to here.



I'm here now...and here's what I love:


I love the freedom of expression.

I love the fact that Americans are so forgiving of others' "sins" and indiscretions.


I love the fact that America itself is so huge and vast, and you could be nameless and faceless if you choose to be. Yet, you can connect as closely to people as in the most remote and intimate island on the other side of the world.


Of course, there are no utopias...


But I'm glad that I'm doing my "time" on earth here in America....and, yes, especially in California.


The thing I love about Americans is that overall, and as a nation, they shrug over gossip in the News, or closer to home, as yesterday's old garbage. You can re-invent yourself at the drop of a hat and no one, except for your small or not-so-small group of gossipy friends, will not blink an eye.


Then, there's the forgiving spirit, man! Wow!


When Michael Phelps, the swimming champ who won eight gold medals at the Bejing Olympics, got into trouble earlier this year with swimming authorities and his sponsors, it was an agent for his rivals who came to his defense.

"Enough is enough," said Evan Morgenstein, who represents a large number of Olympic swimmers. "The penalty is far greater than the crime. He has said he is sorry. Let's move on to the real problems in this country."

Time after time we see the American people coming to the defense of would-be fallen stars and other public figures. When the media start out with the reports, yes, the public does listen, but then before long the very public turns around and begins to support that fallen hero.


I don't know anywhere else in the world where the people are as forgiving and as open-minded as in the United States.


Small countries attract a lot of attention because people like the closeness and sameness of life. But even in those small countries, I don't think people are as forgiving of their neighbors with whom they have much closer contact. As a matter of fact, I think they are less forgiving and more indicting. I truly believe the smaller the country, the greater the expectation that people follow a "code" of prescribed behavior.


In many of those countries, it doesn't take much for a person to be ostracized by friends and the nation's people for not following the "rules."


The world's population as of March 2009 is exploding at 6.76 billion. Then you come to the United States, with a population of more than 304 million, as of the 2008 count, and we learn some lessons about humanity and realness and truth.


When someone gets into trouble here and the criticism is running high, it does not take long for someone to surface and state:"Foul! Stop!"

This is the way of the American people: open minded, fair and always searching and examining their conscience and their Soul!

This brings me another key reason I decided to write this blog on this date.


The worst way I am challenged is when I run into fellow nationalized U.S. citizens, who still would be foreign! I truly am puzzled by those who after decades of life in the United States still seem to believe that their foreign birth somehow makes them "superior" in some way to U.S. born citizens.

I get silently angry at those who, because I am foreign born believe they can share, without caution or concern, their antipathy towards Americans and things American.




These are people who are benefitting tremendously from the struggles the United States has made as a nation, but their own immediate concern is only to derive benefits for themselves and their immediate families. They don't seem to realize that it's a privilege to be an American citizen, and not "naturally" their right to derive benefits and the "goods" of American life without a deep sense of appreciation and gratitude!


Some speak in their own dialects and continue to hold to their cultural ways, without truly trying in any way to integrate into the ways and life of the American people. I'm truly bothered by this.

Then, there are those people who know and see that I'm black, but in their ignorance, they tell me, "You're different." This happens mostly with white Americans who seem unable to reconcile that black is black! A foreign accent is simply that: a foreign accent.

I hold my tongue because I realize how futile it would be to address people at that level of ignorance. It would take many lessons, and possibly lifetimes, of TRUTH to correct those fallacies.

More than anything, I am proud, first, to be Black. Then, just as equally important to me is my pride in the privilege of being an American.

Borrowing a line from my favorite poem, Desiderata,"With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it's still a beautiful" country!


America, the beautiful. Thank You for being my home!

Happy Independence Day!

Namaste',

Che'