“Good morning America how are you? Said don’t you know me, I’m your native son.”*
Over the past decade my wife and I have often played a simple little game when we visit friends and family in the States. On our drives as we come to our area we ask each other, “Could we live here?” It’s not a particularly complicated question, yet it is one that is deeply layered.
Currently we have just finished driving almost 4,500 miles in The United States of America. While certainly not enough to see a vast country, it does give a person a slight sense of understanding. From high and low deserts to fertile farmlands, majestic mountains to seemingly endless plains, towering buttes and deep cut canyons, surging cities and small sedate towns we took them all in. Driving in, along, and through tasting the flavors of the land. Much like a cinematic conclusion our journey ended just prior to a massive display of fireworks held on an auspicious day for the nation. In the nine state microcosm we journeyed there were massive amounts of perspective and ample time to play our game.
Upon our return I found myself feeling like a new colossus standing over the masses.** With sun in my eyes waiting for it to set so that flares could rise, I took a moment to reflect. People continued to arrive around me filling the field in front searching for a place to settle. Some arrived with nothing others brought family and meager belongings. All came with hopes and dreams of seeing the rockets’ red glare. With the tilting of the earth, the moving silhouettes became sharper, showcasing the people who make the land.
Multiple languages wafted through the air. Baseball caps, hijabs, cowboy, and sun hats adorned the masses. Hot dogs, snow cones, churros, sriracha, shawarma, and champagne were all consumed to meet a common need of humanity. Sounds, smells, and tastes so diverse yet one collective thread holding us all as one people. Unity in diversity. A unity so complex and full of depth making sense to no homogeneous way of life on the planet. For to have a diverse land full of diverse people while allowing for diverse thoughts to coexist with one another brings a richness enhancing the shared culture as it highlights its own diversity. A paradox to the storied pomp perhaps, however, in reality the mild eyes are still full of welcome.** Having lived on multiple continents, experiencing the richness of creation all over God’s planet, I know that the complex mixture of America, while not one of the seven wonders, is still truly amazing in this regard.
So yeah…… we could live here.
* The City of New Orleans originally sung by Arlo Guthrie
** The New Colossus poem by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
MOTHER OF EXILES. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
nehrely there 