The America I Know vs. The America I Want*
"Where are you from?" I get asked day to day to day.
"Murray, Utah!" I reply. I smile through it. I am really proud of my hometown. I just never understood the nationality qualification when it came to making friends in Utah.
"But where are you from?"
I've about had it with this question. I'm from Utah. I was born and raised here. What more do I have to do to be a United States citizen?
According to the law, nothing. My mother and grandmother are American citizens. They answered questions that most people that are naturalized citizens can't. (Proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRkFDcX_72c ) You'd think that a basic understanding of American history would make someone more American. But instead, just the slightest accent, the slightest curl, a mole, a nose, a lip, or bodily hair can "give yourself away" to the real Utahns.
A new nationalism sentiment is on the rise. It's about as complex as gerrymandered district borders.
It's easy to argue that Trump's nationalism is inward-facing accompanied by a pessimistic view of globalism. He talks of walls and travel bans. He has pulled out of the Paris Climate agreement and the Trans Pacific Partnership. I'm not saying that I agreed with policies under these agreements, but any reader can see how the whole world could have benefited from these. Instead, Trump turns inward.
Accompanied by this is an ethnic nationalism. It's exactly what it sounds like. Race and history set a nation apart. It's nostalgic. (The Economist, November 19-25 edition pages 50-54) This is likely what possesses strangers to ask me where I'm from. Because my outward appearance doesn't align with the image of their All-American Mama, its difficult to accept me as their American.
A "benign love" of one's own country is inversely related to trusting the world (The Economist, November 19-25th 2016 edition pages 50-54).
Is this moral? Is it Christian? Should we all just follow suit?
"God forbid" (Romans 6:2)
Read the definition of a civic nationalism instead and try and tell yourself you don't like it. Civic nationalism "unites country around common values" like "freedom" or "equality."It's forward looking" (The Economist, November 19-25th 2016 edition pages 50-54).
Some of us believe in a Millennium. Will Christ's Zion be segregated? Would Christ be antipathetic as Trump's nationalism is? If we cannot get along now, how can we get along during this Millennium? Certainly righteous people are not all of one race. If we, as Latter-day Saints, believed that, we would not send missionaries to every corner of the world that will have them to preach the gospel.
For those who do not believe in a Millennium, don't you want to get along? If you really believe that death is the end, do you want to spend this one life lonely and isolated?
Vice President Joe Biden explained: "We are living through a battle for the soul of this nation" (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/joe-biden-after-charlottesville/538128/) Isn't that exciting! What a purpose we've been dealt!
Currently I am between majors. You see, I speak four languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. Give me a year to study and I hope to add Italian to this list. I love talking to people. Speaking more languages means speaking to more people, in turn making me happier. I thought journalism would be a great major, but let's be honest, it's a dying field. President Trump hates us. Public trust in news media is depleting. You, reader, are proof! Why aren't you reading the news instead of this? Only you know.
Today, the pursuit of an "authentic native identity" would make journalists look like "presstititutes" more than truth seekers and story tellers (The Economist, November 19-25th 2016 edition pages 50-54). I don't want that reputation.
So maybe I'll go into linguistics. That would translate (pun intended) nicely into teaching, which I would also love to do. I already love languages, why not learn how to learn more. Maybe, just maybe learning more languages will help me trust the rest of the world more. I can become a person who turns outward before turning inward.
We know Christ was this way. When He was about to be arrested, and one of his apostles sliced the ear off of a Roman soldier, He healed the ear. As He died on the cross, He asked one of his apostles to take care of His mother for Him. Christ always turned outward. He was the embodiment of unselfishness. I want to be like Jesus.
I want to be a global citizen. I want to live in a cosmopolitan city. I don't really care about somebody's ethnic descent, I just care if I speak their language. Others make me happy. I have never made myself happy all on my own. Isolationism is my nightmare.
My ideal America is one that welcomes all. Not a melting pot, where immigrants are forced to throw away the maintenance of their own heritage in order to assimilate, but I want multiculturalism. I want a mutual respect of people and their heritages, and to never have my patriotism questioned again just because I care about the other countries that share this planet with me.
Some may criticize my viewpoints. Some may question my patriotism, like my friends on social media did when I posted a harmless picture of Hiroshima, Japan. Theresa May, the prime minister of Great Britain following David Cameron's resignation post-Brexit has said: "If you believe you're a citizen of the world, you're a citizen of nowhere. You don't understand what the very word 'citizenship' means."
Well, then. Let me cut the ties between myself and racism, selfishness, pessimism. Let me be a citizen of nowhere before I'm a citizen of a shameful nation. Let me belong to everyone. Because Christ sure does.
Some of us believe in a Millennium. Will Christ's Zion be segregated? Would Christ be antipathetic as Trump's nationalism is? If we cannot get along now, how can we get along during this Millennium? Certainly righteous people are not all of one race. If we, as Latter-day Saints, believed that, we would not send missionaries to every corner of the world that will have them to preach the gospel.
For those who do not believe in a Millennium, don't you want to get along? If you really believe that death is the end, do you want to spend this one life lonely and isolated?
Vice President Joe Biden explained: "We are living through a battle for the soul of this nation" (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/joe-biden-after-charlottesville/538128/) Isn't that exciting! What a purpose we've been dealt!
Currently I am between majors. You see, I speak four languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese. Give me a year to study and I hope to add Italian to this list. I love talking to people. Speaking more languages means speaking to more people, in turn making me happier. I thought journalism would be a great major, but let's be honest, it's a dying field. President Trump hates us. Public trust in news media is depleting. You, reader, are proof! Why aren't you reading the news instead of this? Only you know.
Today, the pursuit of an "authentic native identity" would make journalists look like "presstititutes" more than truth seekers and story tellers (The Economist, November 19-25th 2016 edition pages 50-54). I don't want that reputation.
So maybe I'll go into linguistics. That would translate (pun intended) nicely into teaching, which I would also love to do. I already love languages, why not learn how to learn more. Maybe, just maybe learning more languages will help me trust the rest of the world more. I can become a person who turns outward before turning inward.
We know Christ was this way. When He was about to be arrested, and one of his apostles sliced the ear off of a Roman soldier, He healed the ear. As He died on the cross, He asked one of his apostles to take care of His mother for Him. Christ always turned outward. He was the embodiment of unselfishness. I want to be like Jesus.
I want to be a global citizen. I want to live in a cosmopolitan city. I don't really care about somebody's ethnic descent, I just care if I speak their language. Others make me happy. I have never made myself happy all on my own. Isolationism is my nightmare.
My ideal America is one that welcomes all. Not a melting pot, where immigrants are forced to throw away the maintenance of their own heritage in order to assimilate, but I want multiculturalism. I want a mutual respect of people and their heritages, and to never have my patriotism questioned again just because I care about the other countries that share this planet with me.
Some may criticize my viewpoints. Some may question my patriotism, like my friends on social media did when I posted a harmless picture of Hiroshima, Japan. Theresa May, the prime minister of Great Britain following David Cameron's resignation post-Brexit has said: "If you believe you're a citizen of the world, you're a citizen of nowhere. You don't understand what the very word 'citizenship' means."
Well, then. Let me cut the ties between myself and racism, selfishness, pessimism. Let me be a citizen of nowhere before I'm a citizen of a shameful nation. Let me belong to everyone. Because Christ sure does.
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