Posted on 7/4/2004, 8:19:08 PM by Mark
Los Angeles Daily News
Life in U.S. has a way of catching on By Rob Asghar
My father left a mud-hut village in Pakistan to come to America, hoping to receive some technical training. He had not counted on catching the "America bug," but that's what happens to unsuspecting visitors -- and the world is becoming a better place for it.
Dad enrolled at North Carolina State University nearly 50 years ago and earned a degree in electrical engineering. On a brief return to Pakistan, he met my mother at a wedding -- their own. You may realize this means it was an arranged marriage.
The prefabricated couple decided to spend "just a few years" in the United States because of the job opportunities here. And they took on more of America than they had bargained for.
The "America bug," a sort of mad-cow disease for immigrants, was first described to me by a college president who noticed that foreign students tend to catch a cultural infection here that bends their plans and warps their dreams. If they return to their homeland, they wish it was more like America, and will work to make it so. Often they choose not to go home, or choose to return to America after a while.
Once infected, you begin to see life in a cockeyed manner; you begin to believe you can write the script of your own life instead of letting family or culture write it for you; you fume on your visits back home that life there is too corrupt or inefficient or boring; and while you're concerned about the feckless morality of America, you also sense that these Americans aren't overly uptight, and something feels right about that.
And when your children begin to drift from your heritage, as was the case with my father's progeny, you may stay awake late cursing this place, but you suspect your destiny is tied inextricably with it.
Europeans spilled blood over issues of morality, papal authority and the nature of the bread served during Communion; this helps explain why they now flinch when God is even mentioned. In the case of Christendom, what finally freed up the best in religious thought and deed? The America bug did. The New World bespoke life, liberty and the pursuit of the good life. Americans were willing to fight to the death for justice, but not over private matters of conscience.
Similarly, the America bug is what might slowly kill off the fanatic appendages of latter-day Islam.
America, stunningly, has not faced a major terrorist incident on our soil since 9-11. This may be due to luck, prayer and outstanding work on the part of our government workers; but there is another reason that would-be terrorists have failed to make a dent here since that black September day. "A lot of these guys lose the jihadi, desert spirit," an intelligence agent told Newsweek. "They get families, they get jobs and they lose the fire in the belly. Welcome to America."
Welcome, indeed.
My parents rued that my older brother and I were growing up "much less Pakistani" than they'd hoped, but they made peace with it.
Still, they tried another strategy with their youngest son, sending him to Islamabad to learn the right values. In an eerie recapitulation, he decided to come to the U.S. for an education. He went home again briefly to take part in an arranged marriage, brought his bride to the United States hoping to spend "just a few years" establishing a career, and well, you know the drill.
He and his wife sense they're here to stay. They hear me talk about the idea of an America bug and they nod. They have caught it, or it has caught them.
Their 2-year-old daughter, Mariam, is the future of Islam. The willful urchin will someday bicker with her mom and dad over whether she needs to observe halal (the Muslim version of kosher) food standards. Already a fan of floral dresses, she will likely protest their disdain for skirts at parties or shorts in gym class. Already a devastating charmer, she will keep them up at night when puberty arrives in all its terror.
They will wonder why they did not whisk her back to Pakistan when they had the chance. And then, like my father before them, they will remember the confounded America bug.
After navigating those icebergs, they will find that America changed their approach to life, just as it has changed everything else it has touched. They will see that America gave their faith the slack it needed to adapt to a new era. They will be grateful for America, and so, eventually, will our world.
Rob Asghar is an independent writer and editor in Los Angeles. This piece is adapted from a book he is completing about the immigrant experience in America. Write to him by e-mail at rasghar@dimestoreguru.com .
That's why the Islamo-Fascists hate us so.
Yes, it is probably why "American Culutre" is hated.
If one visits places around the world, one will see Nike T-shirts & U. S. College logo shirts everywhere. Most places will also have Coca Cola & Pepsi. Then again McDonalds, and Burg King are everywhere. I remember my kids watching US Soap operas while my wife and I got dressed in the mornings in both Germany, and Italy.
Some may feel that power corupts and that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
I for one feel that a taste of freedom and the opportunities that a "free market society" provide, makes (absolutely) any other culture unliveable. That is why so much of the world wants to emulated America.
Actually the fear of change and the knowledge that change will have to happen once children see TV and what American has to offer, is why as a Country we are hated by so many. They really don't hate us for what we have, they hate us for our freedom and how the desire for freedom by their children and friends will change their society. Remember even Canada has laws against US magazines and US arts from overwhelming their "culture."
Happy 4th of July!
Just a taste of freedom can change a nation.
Burger King is owned by the English. ;-)
Canada has a culture?
It's an interesting observation that many foreigners will say that they like Americans but they don't like the president or the government. What they don't realize is that for better or worse, the president is the personification of much of the American character. That means that if they don't like George W. Bush, they probably shouldn't like at least half or more of the country's citizens. Maybe they don't, but to say that one likes Americans but not their leader, they're way off base. And the things that they like about America are also things that George W. Bush represents far more and far better than elitist conman John Kerry.
The United States is still a very young and vibrant country with a lot of growth ahead of it. Ronald Reagan was right when he said "It's morning in America."
Within the next 100 years, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Mexico will join the U.S.A. Cuba will be annexed and granted statehood at some point soon - likely in our lifetime. For as soon as Castro falls (and he will), events will happen rapidly to make that reality.
Most of English and Spanish-speaking world are destined to join the United States within the next 100 years. Gradually our Spanish-speaking citizens will switch over to English. It would sure help if our liberal government stopped retarding the process with their bilingual crap. We are doing no favors by allowing U.S. citizens and future U.S. citizens to speak a dying language. The sooner they make English their first language, the quicker they will prosper and add to the enormous wealth and power of this country.
If you think the United States is enormous, wealthy and powerful now, just wait. Eventually the United States will spread over the entire Western Hemisphere as well as Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain.
But, the objective has to continue to be "melting pot," rather that the stupid Canadian "mosaic" concept. In the old world, the ancient cultures that have recently decided on suicide by merging themselves allow populations of outsiders to retain identities, guaranteeing future discord.
The one exception that I find extraordinary is France. France has forbidden strange religions from wearing religious garb. This will break down the old traditions and tend to merge all the cultural interest into the core culture. It is a simple concept but the fact that the French have adopted it is almost unbelievable. The Germans, OTOH, will someday have to deal with their internall nation of transplanted Turks.
No, it won't. Many Americans are already anxious to cut Puerto Rico loose. They'd never accept expansionism.
But if you mean that American style Democracy will spread, then yes, I agree.
such optimism...
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...is refreshing. thanks. needed that.
bump for the American Bug. I was born with it. God Bless America.
And, this is why, in general and in the longer term, the invasion of hordes of illegal criminal river swimming Mexican aliens is not a bad thing.
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if they become a majority it will be a very bad thing. latins are not famous for good government.
I wouldn't want New Zealand to become like the US. It's fine the way it is.
a little optimism is good... too much is saccharin and too little even worse...no nation was ever built on negativity
DeGaulle said something to the effect "They (Americans) want you to think their country is like John Kennedy. Actually, it's like LBJ." Now, it's a lot like W. They don't like our strength and resolve. Or our lack of deceit, duplicity, and double-dealing.
Personally, I wouldn't mind trading some of the New England states for some of the western Canadian provinces (I think New England is beautiful BTW but they are lost to the Dems).
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