Preserving American Culture

I've seen a few of them in my neighborhood. They're wearing hats that look like they're probably from India. And a woman is walking behind them.

HEY, YOU'RE IN AMERICA!

I hear we've got Haitians in New York and they're in Boston big time. OK, but be American damn it.

I hear we've got Somalis in Iowa working in meat packing plants. Huh? What the hell are you doing there.

We all know France, in particular Paris, has had enormous problems with Muslims from who knows where. The French culture is being lost. That's All Folks.

Germany? Muslims there changing the culture of Germany? That's All Folks?

Didn't we just read about muslims in Italy, of all places, rioting? Is the Italian culture also being changed? That's All Folks?

Last time I was in Dublin, Ireland you could've plopped me down there while I was blindfolded and I wouldn't have known where the h... I was. It's now an international city. To experience the land of my forbearers we had to go West. That's All Folks?

I was in Germany, France and Luxembourg in the U.S. Army on a NATO special operation. Three generations of my family (WWI, WWII and Cold War, i.e. Berlin Crisis) had been there before me. Even though we were in Squad Tents in the field, for this kid from Cleveland that had only been to Ohio's border states before becoming a soldier, it was totally cool being in different cultures in Europe.

Why am I writing about all this? I think you've discerned already - Germany was Germany. France was France. Luxembourg was Luxembourg. And, America was America.

We became Americans when we came here. Irish, yes, but American. So, my message to those who continue to wear their traditional headgear, and those who come from wherever, be AMERICAN! Be proud of your ethnic heritage but BE AMERICAN! And let us let them be American.

If you think we shouldn't preserve our American culture and heritage, either as an immigrant or as a multi-generational American, you don't belong here.