Last semester, my daughter was in a class that invited several international professors to talk about their impressions of America. She said that the professors from Asia, for the most part had positive things to say about their experiences while living here. But, the European ones were very critical. One from Denmark remarked (along with other snide comments) that America doesn’t really have a culture.
It raised my daughter’s hackles. Probably because my husband has traveled extensively for his job, and we’ve had many European visitors come and stay at our house. It’s always the same story with them. For some reason, Europeans are always lecturing us about what’s wrong with America. We had an Englishman who was moving to the U.S., tell us his plans for making the U.S. more like the U.K. I didn’t say it, but I thought, “Good luck with that!” It’s irritating and rude. I’ve never gone to another country, and pointed out what I thought their shortcomings were. As an “ugly American,” I enjoyed the things I liked, and overlooked what I didn’t. I’m not arrogant enough to think I’m going to change a country to meet my expectations. So, I return home, to the U.S., where I like it best.
Nobody asked, but here’s my answer to his snobby observation that America doesn’t have a culture. If we don’t have a culture, why does everyone in the world know who the U.S. is? And why does everybody criticize our nonexistent culture? Does he know what a cowboy is? Has he heard of Hollywood? New York? Rock ‘n roll? Country music? Football? Baseball? The richest farmland in the world? The interstate highway system? The internet? Universities that students from all over the world strive to be admitted to? Blue jeans?
Our culture isn’t tied to national costumes, or one dance that we’ve done for hundreds of years. Our culture is many different cultures. Drive through any town in America and you’ll find Mexican, Italian, Thai, Chinese, and “American” restaurants. Our culture is forward thinking, not mired in the past. That’s why we don’t have many ancient buildings, particularly out here in the West since it’s fairly new. We like to renovate and renew rather than preserve. American culture is not pretentious. Sometimes it’s downright tacky. We don’t take ourselves so seriously that we can’t laugh at ourselves. And I think it would be hard to find an American who would proclaim that we’re perfect.
Yesterday I spent the day at the Puyallup Fair, one of the top ten largest fairs held in the world. We stood in line for forty-five minutes for scones. Most of the time, I chatted with a Hispanic woman in front of me. Her husband looked Samoan. The group in front of us included a Caucasian couple who were introducing a Filipino man to scones. An African couple sat nearby on a bench. When we finally placed our order for a dozen, the cashier introduced us to the exchange students making the scones. The six of them were from various European and Asian countries. They couldn’t believe how long we were willing to stand in line for the puffy triangles of dough stuffed with raspberry jam. But they hadn’t had a chance to taste them yet.
We walked past hundreds of booths with tempting foods from around the world, and around the U.S.: bratwurst, pirogis, burgers, teriyaki, shave ice, barbecue, corn on the cob, funnel cakes, elephant ears, corn dogs, etc. before we settled on Philly steak sandwiches for lunch. We paused to let rodeo horses clomp past us with cowboys in the saddle on their way into the stadium. We admired all the photos taken by international shutterbugs. We were on our way to the hobby hall to check out the collections ranging from Beatles memorabilia to thimbles, when we stopped dead in our tracks.
Was that Elvis we heard singing? We u-turned and joined the crowd, peering over their heads to spot Elvis singing to packed bleachers of fans. He was dressed in his 70s Vegas white outfit with the cape and wide, sparkling, gemstone-studded belt. The audience was clapping and singing along. When he finished the show with “An American Trilogy,” everyone rose to their feet, and there were some teary eyes in the house. Elvis was back in the building, and reminded me of what America’s about. We can have opposing views intense enough to fight a Civil War over them. We can be flashy and outrageous. We like being able to become anything we want “when we grow up.” We hate taxes. We can be fiercely independent, stubborn, generous, tender hearted, and strong all at the same time.
Which leads to my thoughts about 9-11, and the latest controversy about a mosque being built in the shadow of Ground Zero. Our country is founded on constitutional rights. No other country on earth has come up with a better system of government. No Muslim country has the rights that our country has. It’s interesting that they take our strength and turn it against us. The Muslims have a right to build a mosque where the Twin Towers were destroyed by them. But does the word “right” mean the same thing as “obligation?” Do they understand that our tolerance has limits?
Anyone can become an American. But based on what I saw at an Elvis impersonator concert, we won’t be changing into Europeans, or submitting to Sharia law any time soon.
Laura Keolanui Stark can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com.
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