The Melting Pot Part 2

 MY STARTING POINT

THE MELTING POT

By Nancy Quillin Long

Written August 2024

 

America, the melting pot, is the place where people yearn to live in freedom, but many throughout the ages have paid greatly for those freedoms. It should not be taken for granted. It was earned.
 
We live in a time of turmoil, but it only takes a moment to crack open a book of old to realize that there has always been turmoil.  As immigrants pour across our border, I cannot “undo” what is in my blood and has been passed down, generation after generation for over 250 years, to the point where I am now; my thoughts, my culture, my beliefs.  Reaching out to others and understanding their journey is a place of compromise and understanding that no one is better than the other.
 
I learned this best years ago as a young teacher in 1978. It was a quick study to know that as I stood in front of my classroom, the most important thing for me was to look out over the classroom and NOT see race, color, or creed. Though I am Caucasian, the majority of my students were black and Hispanic. My purpose was to educate each human in a place without prejudice or bias. EDUCATE! Not teach them what to think, but how to think. Teach them to read, write, spell, communicate effectively, learn about cultures, history, math…to teach them the basics, not to teach them rewritten history or new math…but the BASICS. With that said, we cannot push aside our American culture, at the expense of a great many to placate a few. It is what it is. (see post on Judea Christian values)
 
 There is a reason why people flock here to the melting pot which is the greatest place on the face of earth to live. We must not lose sight of the basic truths of WHY that is so.
 
I make no apologies for where I stand on my principles because we, as a nation. cannot erase the history that is written in books. As a genealogist, I know that my ancestors were the people who carved out this nation. I have yet to find a branch of the tree that are recent immigrants. With that said, I will go to my grave standing on the principles set forth by my forefathers who fought and died for those values. It is a culture and no amount of trying to erase that from the history books can change the facts. Is it a culture that is better than another? No, not really…but why is it something that is so desired across the globe? We must be careful as we move forward that we protect those values. A nation without borders is not a nation.
 
So, let’s go back to what we know ARE facts. There were all kinds of explorers that reached the new world. These explorers discovered a place rich in minerals with abundant resources and untouched wilderness. They encountered the indigenous people. Battles were fought just as they have been throughout the ages. There was a hammering out of who claimed what territory. As history reflects, it was the Anglo-Saxon who began to settle and civilize the wilderness of the New World. They began making progress. Was it pretty? No! The indigenous people fought for their land, rightfully so. Did those “newcomers” suffer hardships, most definitely. Long story short. It wasn’t the Chinese, nor any Oriental culture, nor the Africans, nor the Siberians that settled this nation. It takes nothing away from those cultures, rich in their own tradition, but facts show who settled this great nation. For that, I am grateful to know and understand my culture. Were there wrongs committed along the way? Yes! Of course, there were. Yet, I can make no apologies for who I am.
I stand with my jaw dropped, then, trying to understand why we are desperately trying to change history. This IS a melting pot. We adapt, change, grow…we’ve grown over the years, knowing that we must fight against prejudice, but we can’t change what is history. Each of those changes has caused us to grow together.
 
I got over that long ago, as that young teacher standing in front of a classroom. I can’t change the “wrongs” that were done to others, but I can grow and understand their challenges. Yet I will never abandon my core values, my Judea Christian values…as that IS the concept of such a beautiful nation that others across the globe desire.
 
Let us NOT bend and break that culture. We stand on basic principles which seem to be under attack. It seems that these principles have been thrown into my face, as if I should be ashamed of them, and I cannot reason why this is a new trend.  I can only be pushed so far in defending other people’s rights when it feels that the basic American rights are being trampled on in reverse.