culture

             I was planning to take a leisurely trip this summer, but now I think I'll have to change my plans. Instead I'll probably have to take a crash course in Sensitivity for the Culturally Unaware. Maybe it's because I grew up in Chicago, perhaps the most culturally diverse city in the country. Maybe it's because I have a mulatto niece and nephew. Maybe it's because my cousin's last name is now Hernandez. Maybe it's because my wife's cousin is a Native American. Or maybe it's because we Poles have borne the brunt of more jokes than any other ethnic group, but all this time I thought I was aware of other cultures and the feelings of members of other ethnic groups and minorities. Now I guess I'm not. At least my union newsletter,the BEA_Messenger, says I'm not in an article on multicultural awareness. I for one take pride in our nation's history in regard to minorities. Minority groups founded this nation. The religious groups who felt the pressure of persecution in their ho!
             melands came here to begin new lives,and eventually a new nation. The ethnic groups that came in a great flood
             of immigrants came to escape the economic oppression of their homelands. Those groups, too, found a way to become part of the American experience. They didn't need, nor did they demand, any laws requiring acceptance into society. Kindness, tolerance and respect are things that can only be earned, not handed down by legislative decree. Those things mandated by law never reach into the fiber of our country. They never take root in our psyches. In fact, as we have too often seen, legislative decrees that mandate how we should act or feel lead to only more dissension and divisiveness. Great strides have been taken on the road to equality. Despite claims to the contrary, women have more opportunity now to succeed than ever before. Today, fifty percent of law school graduates are female. Where twenty years ago perhaps 5000 women were industrial engineers...

More Essays:

APA     MLA     Chicago
culture . (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 13:23, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/66094.html