I Love This Country

Now before you roll your eyes, this is not about mindless patriotism. As many of you know already, this last weekend was ArtWalk, I’m not going to go into detail about what the event is, you can follow the link in Friends of the House of Love to find out what it’s all about, ArtWalk is one of two big events in Little Italy, and it affords one a chance to observe humanity.

I love this country for a lot of reasons, but what strikes me is this country’s immense tolerance for all kinds of people. This weekend I had the chance to see folks from all walks of life, from different countries, various sexual orientations (you pick), the heterogeneity of the crowd was stunning. I’ve been on every continent in this planet save Antarctica, and I can tell you with a fair amount of certainty that there is nowhere else that is more tolerant and diverse than the U.S. It is a truly amazing testimonial to this country.

We’ve come along way since I was a kid. Its funny back in the early 60’s there were only two interracial couples I knew of, Sammy Davis Jr., and my Mom (at least it seemed that way). Today the debate is whether race identifiers on various official documents are necessary or can accurately define someone’s ethnicity. One’s sexual orientation doesn’t seem to concern us in the way it did 35 years ago. I wonder if the young men and women coming out today realize how painful a life that was not too long ago.

In today’s America you can define yourself just about any way you like, pierced and tattooed to a fair the well, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindu, Rocker, Punk, Skate Punk, et al. If you can think it, and it’s within the boundaries of civilized behavior you can pretty much be it.

Something to be proud of, don’t you think?