Kultur 1

I have no power here, but a little generator has given me enough electricity for internet. Candles can be epic.

The part from this article that got me thinking was around p. 17 where it talks about the "synthesis of Old and New World influences."

It seems to me humans always tend to associate with people more like themselves, and the most glorious and most destructive devices and such come from a collaboration of many people. Take the Biblical story of the Tower of Babel, where all of the people being unified by one language commenced to build a very tall tower. Or look at the Greeks who, although they fought amongst themselves, were staunch together against their enemies.

Going along with this innate desire to be united is also the concept of fitting in... aka assimilation. Although immigrants tried to keep as many native traditions as possible, in order to survive in a new land, they had to adjust somehow. As is discussed in the article, there are two ways to do that: let go of your own culture or fit your culture into the existing culture. The German immigrants seem to have done the latter. The Aufbau was intriguing in particular as I noticed the "Japan News Club" newspaper in our house this afternoon! This is a monthly, free newspaper with all kinds of news, mostly local and mostly business. In any case, this is a good example of a cultural group staying connected to each other but embracing the new culture they live in.

What is so wondrous about cultures, or at least the cultures in America, is the homogeneity that allows us to enjoy a variety of traditions often without being aware that we are doing so. It was interesting to read about so many aspects of life (education, entertainment, business, politics) that have been affected by German immigration or that we have affected over in Germany/Europe.