Globalized Suburb.
The family adjacent to our home is from China. Every morning a 6:00am sharp, the matriarch of their family, possibly in her 70’s…is out in her back yard doing some form of Chinese exercise/meditation. Some of the movements appear to be quite strenuous, or at least take a good amount of concentration and sometimes make her look like a character from an Asian film.
Since they’ve lived here, this older woman hasn’t missed a day of morning exercises. I am lucky if I get 3 push-ups done in a week. Son and daughter-in-law of this woman are both bio-quantum-engineer genius-types…and their children seem beyond smart; they are wise beyond their toddler-hood.
My neighbors to the right, are from South Africa. They too bring many things that help them stay connected to their homeland…for one, they speak only Afrikkans among one another at home. They too, have an incredible work-ethic. Thier children are each straight A+ students; one recently graduated from university with honors…on top of which, she landed a prestigious publishing job in NYC, not more than 2 weeks after her graduation.
It is expected that when you arrive in America, you bring along the traditions, celebratory activities, idiosyncracies, language and many other fascinating nuances of your heritage.
As we in America, quarrel over immigration issues, we should stop bickering for a minute and look around at our neighbors, our fellow colleagues and our friends from other countries.
Yes they bring rituals and habits that we may not be familiar with, but they also bring us a treasure trove of experiences. Just where would we be as a country without them?
We also hope that immigrants try their best to assiimilate into our culture, so that we can co-exist and communicate.
I can tell you that both my neighbors, inluding Chinese meditation woman, wear Nike’s, playbaseball and bbq every weekend.
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