After all of my recent reading I can’t help but think of the differences between Afghanistan and the USA. It doesn’t have to be Afghanistan; it could be any Middle Eastern/Asian country. The USA is all about immigration and most of the others aren’t. The native civilization present here in the 1600’s wasn’t organized well enough to keep the Europeans out and immigration quickly grew the country; and continues to do so. Can you imagine wanting to move your family to Turkmenistan? Kyrgyzstan? The culture of those countries has remained static. Tribalism rules.
Our own family demonstrates how immigration works to make a better country and a better world. I have Scotch, English and French (Norman) ancestors. Laurae has German and Welsh ancestors. (That’s only the ancestors we know about.) Now our grandchildren have other ancestors adding to the gene pool. And our great grandchild, Colum, has even more! A lucky boy. We don’t (logically) have a loyalty to any one of those ancestral countries or cultures.
When I was younger, I used to think of myself as a Scot. Sure, that’s tribalism and it was comfortable! It also appeals to a younger mind. But the truth is I’m no more a Scot than I am French or English or? And since I can’t ‘be’ any one of those… I guess I have to ‘be’ human. That’s something we should all aspire to.
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