What is an American?

"Human progress has only occurred due to the efforts of many different peoples. No one body of folks deserves credit for all human accomplishment to this date. Surely, no such group ever will."

Dear friends,

Human progress has only occurred due to the efforts of many different peoples. No one body of folks deserves credit for all human accomplishment to this date. Surely, no such group ever will. In a book written two generations ago called The Study of Man, author Ralph Linton summed it up best when addressing the question, "What is an American?" He wrote:

Our solid American citizen awakens in a bed built on a pattern which originated in the Near East...throws back the covers made from cotton, domesticated in India...goes to the bathroom, whose fixtures are a mixture of European and American inventions, both of recent date...washes with soap invented by the ancient Gauls...Returning to the bedroom - puts on garments whose form originally derived from the skin clothing of the nomads of the Asiatic steppes, puts on shoes made from skins tanned by a process invented in ancient Egypt...Before going out for breakfast - glances Through the window, made of glass invented in Egypt...stops to buy a paper, paying for it with coins, an ancient Lydian invention...At the restaurant - (the) plate is made of a form of pottery invented in China...has coffee, an Abyssinian plant, with cream and sugar. Both the domestication of cows and the idea of milking them originated in the Near East, while sugar was first made in India...finished eating - settles back to smoke, an American Indian habit...while smoking - reads the news of the day, imprinted in characters - invented in Germany...and, if - a good conservative citizen ,gives thanks to a Hebrew deity, in an Indo-European language, for being 100 percent American.

All peoples have played or are playing a role that contributes to human progress, regardless of their continental origins, much less the colors of their skins. Moreover, at the basis of human civilization is a cooperative effort to co-exist. In fact, it is only within the context of our association with others do our lives have meaning. After all, we know that "value is a social relation". In other words, to sit in a room with a billion dollars of currency means absolutely nothing, until one either leaves that setting and associates with someone else, or, in modern times, transacts by computer with another. Therefore, at least to me, as opposed to that which we possess, it is that which we share amongst all of us (i.e., human beings) - ideas, emotions, spirituality, and muscles) which is most responsible for and essential to humankind's proliferation.

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus