Not American Enough

In Honor of International Day of Tolerance

Today is an extra special day in my heart as we celebrate international day of tolerance which I would love to replace the word tolerance with even a better word acceptance, International day of acceptance.  Growing up with immigrant parents, I always felt like I wanted my identity to be accepted between my two worlds of being an Armenian American.   

In my primary house my parents spoke Armenian to me, we ate Armenian food, we listening to Armenian music, we watched Armenian movies, read Armenian history books and stories to name a few.    

When I would interact outside my house, I always felt like I wasn’t American enough.  Some light examples are, I didn’t grow up watching typical American movies like “Goonies” (I actually had no idea about this classic movie until a few years ago my colleagues introduced me to it),  I would mispronounce English words like saying Celear instead of Cereal as I thought for a long time that’s how you would say it, not thinking it was formed from the practice of how my parents were mispronouncing them in English.  We didn’t have the typical “American” traditions on holidays like watching football on Thanksgiving, it was more like what type of Armenian horoscope were we going to read around our Armenian expresso coffee cup which were formed images from the coffee grind.  I felt like my cultural differences in American society weren’t the social norms. 

What I realized as I got older that I am American enough because America has been built for all people “We the people” it states.  We all come from all different backgrounds and experiences and we should embrace them and accept them.

To battle intolerance, it requires education and individual awareness.  

A beautiful way that the UN states, “Intolerance is often rooted in ignorance and fear, fear of the unknown of other cultures, religions, nations.  We need to come together for humanity to teach about acceptance and human rights, about other ways of life that may be different than yours.  Encourage each other to stay curious and be open minded.  Education is a lifelong experience that doesn’t stop at any age.  Bigotry, stereotyping and racial jokes are all examples of individual expressions of intolerance and in order to fight intolerance, people should become aware of the link between their behavior and the vicious cycle of mistrust in society. 

We should all ask the questions Am I a person who practicing intolerance?  What are some ways that I stereotype people? How can I practice acceptance daily?

Today is one day but we all need to keep in mind to practice acceptance daily.  The diversity of our world’s many religions, languages, cultures, and ethnicities are not a pretext for conflict but is a treasure that enriches us all.