Born American, but in the Wrong Place by Peter W. Schramm: "'But where are we going?' I asked.
'We are going to America,' my father said.
'Why America?' I prodded.
'Because, son. We were born Americans, but in the wrong place,' he replied."
My ancestry is about as mixed up as someone's can be: white, choctaw, cherokee, a little black; Hungarian, Sudetenland German, Wales, Scotland; horse thieves, bank robbers, Indian bad men and generals, and worst of all, politicians.
It took me until I was 27 and living in Europe to figure out what "being an American" really meant.
Peter Schramm figured it out.
Me too,and although I can never live in the U.S. the country has a friend and passionate supporter here.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can't believe that there are not millions more like me.
I like that.
ReplyDeleteI remember being a kid and I told my Dad I was going to find my roots and all that, look up the family tree etc.
He told me I might not like what I found there, might be some hungarian chicken thieves in the mix. I think that was the only thing I did not find.
America has never just been a place or a race..it is more than that, always has been.
Terrye, I don't recall who said it, but "America is not a place, it's an idea."
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