Culture

The United States is a great and vast melting pot of various ethnicities and with them, cultures. Out of all the countries in the world, I think the US is the best example of ethnic and religious integration. Sure there are some friction that happens but that's to be expected I guess.

However there is a downside to being a melting pot. With the generations, people lose their identity. I can see it everywhere. Dutch Americans, German Americans, Italian Americans, Asian Americans (and their various sub cultures - Asia is pretty big dammit! :p ). They slowly lose their 'uniqueness' so to speak. Language, food, etc.

Don't get me wrong, integration is paramount. Learning the English language is very important (as it is the main language of the United States). You don't go to people's countries and expect them to bend over backwards and accommodate you in every regards do you (and blame them for trying)?

But on the same side, I feel that retaining some sort of 'identity' from a cultural standpoint is important (now I do distinguish culture and tradition - I'm too progressive for the latter haha).

When I moved to the great state of Washington, I had to make a driver's license here. At the time, I wanted to change my legal name to 'Scott' (which is the name I go by). I made my intention known to my parents because my birth name is somewhat of a challenge for most Americans to pronounce (no bad on them for that). My dad said it was up to me. So they followed me to the licensing office (I had to take the family shopping after that) and when I registered, the person asked me if he should follow all the details like my previous license. After a brief moment of pondering I answered "Yes". When I received the printout, my dad out of curiosity wanted to see how Washington Driver's Licenses looked like. He was then surprised that I didn't make the change to my name. I told him I wanted to, but then I realized I wanted to retain my identity. I was named after the man sitting on top of our family tree (as far back as we could trace). Plus the name means "The one who speaks the truth" (very hard to live up to but I try and usually succeed).

Now why did I do that? People know me as Scott. But on the inside, I am always the person who I am. It was a 'gift' bestowed to me by the parentals and true, what's in a name. But my identity is something that I have full control over (very few things in life are that way). I consider myself 100% integrated and assimilated into the US. I am a proud US born Asian American. Yet, I am passionate about my lineage as well. Why? Because it makes me who I am. A unique individual living on this wonderful speck in the universe that's called Earth.

Still it is no excuse for refusing to speak and type in proper English, or for me to disobey the US law.