Ugly American

A recent post on PinkDot touched a nerve.

I have a one year old daughter, and have been thinking lately about her "heritage."

Both her father and I are "muddy-blooded" Americans. We're both made up of smatterings of Native American (which until recently I thought was just fine with it's old moniker of American Indian - a lot I know!), English, and I think German. He has more on his side - for mine there's also Dutch, French, Irish, Scottish, Polish, and Czech. Add to that that my husband's family's religious affiliations are primarily Protestant in nature and mine are Catholic and (whether or not my paternal grandmother will openly admit it), most likely, Jewish.

In short - we're just about as Euro-American as it gets... especially my daughter.

Does this bother me?

On one hand, No. I don't think there's anything wrong with not having a strong affiliation to a distant culture. I think it's a fine thing to be an American - replete with our bold opinions and the courage to speak them, our high levels of self esteem, and our strong desires to be renovators of all the brilliant ideas that founded not only our country but those of our ancestors.

On the other hand, I have first hand experience of Ugly Americans - rife with ignorance and the pride to bandy it about, our arrogance, and our ridiculous notion that the world needs another round of crusades.

I have been a determined advocate for the first description of Americans. When I travel and at home I make every effort to embrace those qualities that speak to our Culture (yes, with the "capital" C), and our grace, our goodness, and our strength. I am a committed iconoclast - perhaps enough to say that it is my personal crusade - of the Ugly American. While I know that singlehandedly I cannot destroy this image, I also firmly believe that the light of my single candle - and that of my daughter as she grows to believe that American can mean beautiful - is enough to dispel at least a little darkness.

So - she will grow up American - muddy blooded and all - and will know of the greatness of this country and its peoples... and she will know of the greatness of her people - those whose blood is all mixed up in her. She will, most certainly, be fore-armed with enough knowledge of what is ugly to counter it (and propogate its antidote) in her own life... because she will know - even more proudly - what beauty courses through the very soul of this country and herself.