Back in the way old days, many people got married just to have sex. The norms of society made sure that no “good girl” would do anything she might regret before marriage. The adults were sure to scare and threaten with tales of disease, unwanted pregnancy, and social rejection. But the human sex drive being what it is, plenty of couples jumped the gun before jumping the broom.
When a guy is about eighteen or nineteen and a girl is of a similar age, sexual feelings are bound to arise. When a government sends groups of young people to serve in the military in a foreign land whether it be at a time of peace or war, they will hook up with whatever potential mate they can find. At every American base around the world there are women waiting to meet American GI’s. In some cases the young women do actually wait right at the entrance of the base for an invitation.
All over the world American young people meet up with foreign young people. If they are of an age to marry and breed, they end up spreading peace and culture beginning with the understanding they achieve by being a couple. I personally know of many such relationships. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they don’t, but those relationships still change who we are individually and our culture as a whole.
Wars have always allowed for an exchange of ideas and customs, and in spite of the death and destruction that comes with the violence, wars also change cultures. Genghis Khan took on the dress and habits of the places he conquered. He also took local wives and made political connections by installing trustworthy locals as governors. This genius plan made it easier for him to control the vast areas he ruled over, and accelerated changes he wanted to impart on a given area.
In World War II, many GI’s fell in love and brought home wives from all over Europe and Asia. Wherever our young men and women are, they will affect change on both ends of the equation. Now that the US is winding down presence in parts of the Middle East, we will begin to see more and more aspects of the desert culture carve out a piece of the American Dream for themselves. They are making a place at the table just as the immigrant groups before them have done.
English, Irish, Germans, Russians, Italians, Japanese, Chinese, Indians, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Mexicans, and Africans have all helped to build this country. We can all claim various mixtures and combinations of these groups. It doesn’t mean that it has been easy, and it isn’t going to be easy to enculture differences that seem extreme or alien to us. But we will eventually adapt and accept the clothing, the spicy foods, religions and beliefs that seem to be at war with our American ideals.
The immigrants will change too. They will become more American. After a couple of generations, their behaviors will be indiscernible from the people who have been here since the flight from religious persecution, the potato famine, the Gold Rush, wars, communism, and slavery. I say, “Huzzah!” to all those who gave up everything they knew to come to an unfamiliar place and carve out a new future for themselves and all of us.
Change will happen because that is what America is all about. We accept differences. It makes us stronger. It enriches us. It makes us worldly. We are the whole world in one special place. “America.” Immigration is a good thing.
Peace. Tolerance. Acceptance. Change.
(First published 11/26/12)
