In a few days, they might put on Neil Diamond‘s America.
Voter registration. Organ donor. Vehicle registration.
They bring some cash (let’s hope so) and a load of dream.
Many had left personal chapters of their lives before boarding that plane.
Just like the Irish and Polish a century and a half ago.
Except that the ports of entry may now be in Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The new Ellis Islands.
First stop often are ethnic enclaves which help ease their transition and acculturation (euphemism for losing out that which had made them them in the first place).
Gone are the scarves, the beards and the cone hats.
Instead, we have everyone wearing some sort of emblems: American Eagles, Newport Beach, Disney and sports teams.
I used to proudly wear PENN STATE grey and blue.
I still am proud.
But having been here too long, I started to realize I had overcompensated to becoming an American. It is a melting pot which frisked me of my ethnicity.
Once in CA, I realized everyone had come from somewhere else.
It’s LA. Dream factory (Hollywood) and Disneyland.
Not just people who reinvent themselves. The city itself has done that (you will not find the setting like you saw in the movies). You are lucky to buy a map and take a tour where the stars might live (if they don’t check in a secret hotel to hook up).
Stuff of dream, of mirage (farther out, it’s more true in Las Vegas, but then, what happened there stayed there).
Yet they keep coming. Keep driving the vehicles. Keep smiling for the camera (except for the traffic control one).
And best of all, like one of the two Google founders, parents raised them to be good in math, which indirectly give us “Search”.
I feel lucky.
America feels lucky. And should be thankful (two-way street).
OK, now you can fade in Neil Diamond’s America. It’s Fourth of July.
If you hear a lot of fireworks, you know the economy is back in full swing.
One more reason to celebrate, besides Independence from the Brits and wherever else they – we – were from. But keep a toe back there, because
it’s good to know where one was from, and appreciate that unique root. May your descendants give us all the “googles” in this land of opps, starting at the DMV line. License will be in the mail in three weeks.
Thang Nguyen 555 