Things Fall Apart: An Analysis of Cultural Views, Essay Example

America is supposed to be a place of acceptance, and openness. Engraved on the Statue of Liberty it states “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses…”, yet some people think that it’s wrong to let so many people into the country if they aren’t going to immediately accept our way of living.  In reality, this is what America was built on. This country should be a collection of different people with different cultural backgrounds, each one deserving the same respect and consideration as the next. People who come to America from other countries should have the same rights to practice what they believe as people who are born in America.

In my opinion, the people who come here seeking safety, and security, and money to raise and support their families should not be forced to completely conform to whatever it is Americans want from them. Just because someone isn’t as fluent in English as our society would like them to be, does that make them any less American than anyone else living here? People come here chasing dreams, whether it’s the traditional American dream of two kids, a dog, and a picket fence, or maybe the dream is to just have enough money to feed themselves and their family. Whatever the reason may be, they are here because they want a better life, and who are we to make them give up aspects from their previous life and country?

We can’t force people to live a certain way just because we’ve decided that to live any other way is “un-American”. Everyone has something that makes them special, and we should be focused on embracing these differences rather than getting frustrated because it was difficult to understand someone who is clearly trying very hard to learn a new language as an adult.

This problem does not just go one way however. In order for us all to live together and co-exist peacefully in America, (an optimistic yet lofty goal) there has to be an effort made on both sides. We shouldn’t force anyone to live exactly like we do, but people entering a new land should do what they can to know a little bit about the country they’re moving to, and perhaps to know enough of the language of that country to be able to live successfully among its occupants.