Military Time

I got in a discussion today about the 24 hour clock, which the rest of the world uses, but here in the US we just refer to it as "military time." It got me thinking about all of the little oddities we have here verses other countries. Some are benign, such as how we refer to time after 12:00. Others, such as our views on the use of credit or primary languages, can be rather devisive. There are regional variations within the US on such matters, of course, but for the general populace there is certain common ground. Why wouldn't you start over at 1:00? That's what the clock says, after all. Of course I'll buy that flat screen tv on my credit card. Who pays directly for anything anymore anyway?





The Great Melting Pot, Circa 1909

As a nation that prides itself in its "melting pot" image we certainly try to maintain our own uniqueness. I think we resemble more of a tossed salad, where each addition maintains aspects of it's identity, but more overt signs (such as language, traditional names and dress) fall by the wayside. Why else do the children of immigrants from the 19th century still practice traditional Irish dancing and hold regional highland games, just to name one example. And yet with each new wave of immigrants we see the groups just off the boat/plane before them quick to set up barracades to assimilation. Whether it be the early english and dutch settlers degrading those "heathens" the prussians, to the waves of italians, irish, russians, jews, chinese, southeast asians, latin americans, indians and the multitude of cultures from the levant, each group finds constant resistance. That is what makes us hold on to aspects of our former lives; when the national community refuses to accept you, you form your own group united in commonalities.

I hear people complain about "illegal aliens" quite frequently, whether on the bus, at work, or in the newspaper, and yet I don't think the majority of them have actually met a real illegal. (Although, the concept that a person can be illegal is open to debate. Their residency may be, but not their personhood, but I digress.) It seems like the complaint is usually not about the person here illegally but the culture that they bring with them. There is this resistance to new ingredients to our hallowed melting pot/salad. You would think that in a nation of immigrants we would have better, clearer routes for people who are currently immigrants, instead of the jumbled mess we have now. For example, while at ASU we had a student body president who was in the country on a student visa. He got married to a US citizen, which changed the status of his visa. When the marriage fell apart a year later, the ex wife called immigration on him, resulting in his deportation even though he was still a student. While the majority of deportations are not by jilted exes, the anecdote points out the complexity of the lives that recent immigrants have and how it seems the system could use an overhaul. And by overhaul I do not mean build a wall with lasers and reinstate quotas on certain groups.

I guess the idea that I'm trying to string together is that the US is the odd one in the world. We do things differently here than in many other places - some things better, some things worse. Until we knock ourselves off the high pedestal that we've been raised to believe in, I find it hard to believe that we will ever solve our immigration issues because we subconsciously view everyone else as inferior. If we are number one, what does that make everyone else? The sum of our parts is what makes us great; it is also what makes us so darn difficult to agree. Until we accept that people from around the world have positive things to contribute to our society we will continue to have an impass.