Retired Curmudgeon

I recently realized that in all my posts since starting this blog I have not yet released my inner retired curmudgeon and I figured it was about time I did so. Fear not, this is not a rant or political post. A combination of hot topics – immigration and wokeness – called my brain and fingers to action.

In a quest for “inclusion” those on the far left (no judgement, just observation) have for years scolded those who encouraged immigrants to assimilate into American culture, It is deemed as racist, bigoted, phobic, etc. to expect those who immigrate to the United States to embrace our culture and learn English. Notice I did not say anything about abandoning their native culture or language. As shown throughout history, there is no need to abandon one’s native culture in order to embrace the culture of the new country.

Our immigrant ancestors did just that - and by the way, they are the ones who built this country. They kept their culture alive at home and in the neighborhoods in which they lived. Little Italy, Chinatown, etc. are all enclaves of immigrants that were established to enable them to preserve their native culture while they proudly became part of their new country. They may speak another language at home and in those neighborhoods but they learned English and happily became Americans. That is until the ‘enlightened” insisted on breaking us into little categories using the dreaded hyphen. And that has now morphed perversely to a single person’s identity potentially containing multiple hyphens, and to that individual dictating how the majority must act. I’ve written about the dangers of this before and my opinion hasn’t changed. If you are a U.S. citizen, you are American, PERIOD. It comes down to a simple question: are you a good witch or a bad witch? Good witches always welcome.

On to today’s immigration situation. Most immigrants are happy and proud to become Americans. But thanks to those who love the hyphen, new immigrants are encouraged to not assimilate into American culture, but rather demand that American culture change for them. This results in yet more division and sets up future conflict.

While American culture is a true melting pot, taking parts of many very different cultures over the centuries, and continually evolving, it may not be the ideal for everyone. That is OK, Those living here have two choices, be part of America or find a country that better suits your mood.

For those who are freaking out right now, let me ask this: what happens when a country no longer has a cohesive culture? If you guessed eventual societal collapse, you win the prize. For some reason though, the hyphen-lovers don’t seem to grasp this basic concept. They want to cancel the past based on their current views of what is right and wrong. Not content with learning from the past and working to create a better future, these folks want to stamp out what they deem offensive and replace it with something in their “woke” mode. What happens in 20 years when that “woke” mode is replaced by some other well-meaning but extremely misguided movement? I’m pretty sure there will be a lot of snowflakes crying foul.

This curmudgeon is scared for the future and nostalgic for the time before we were hyphenated, when we were all just Americans. For those who are not up on your history, EVERY ethnic group that has come here has been discriminated against, just like has happened in every country and territory around the globe throughout history. Newcomers are always looked at suspiciously by those who were already there, America doesn’t have that market cornered and it never did. Same goes for one group conquering another and taking over. That has been going on since life hatched on earth.

My message is simple. Instead of cancelling the parts of the past you don’t like, learn from them, and use that to build a better present and future. One way to start is to drop the hyphens so we are all in this together instead of being pitted against one another. Next, strive for a culture driven by equality and accountability.

You may or may not agree with me. That’s OK, this is America, and you’re reading my blog. I hope whether or not you agree with all my points, we can agree that we all will be better off by coming together as just plain Americans.

For those of you who think the above is too harsh, below is a quote attributed to the famous football coach Lou Hotlz that sums up our current state in a gentler way:

When asked what the difference is between football players 50 years ago and today, he

responded like this: “Simple. Today’s athletes talk about rights and privileges. And the

players 50 years ago talked about obligations and responsibilities!”

I couldn’t agree more with coach Holtz, and to me that perfectly describes society today.

Fear not dear readers, back to lighter subject matter next week.