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Wednesday, June 10, 2009

I Am an American

Steven Petrick writes:

I had a grandparent who was much into tracing family lineages, but it never meant much to me (and still does not). I am what I am; it does not matter that there is "royal blood" from this or that, or that some of my Scottish ancestors were "Hunters for the Stuarts".

All of my known relations who lived in Europe are dead (World Wars I and II did a pretty darn thorough housecleaning, thank you very much). Those of my relatives from "further East" were also eliminated in part by the Joys of Living in Worker's Paradises.

Given "normal human relations", there are probably some people over there that I am related to, i.e., there is always the possibility that some of my ancestors had progeny that were not "acknowledged" (to put it daintily). But then, given "normal human relations", some of my purported ancestors may not have been "progeny of their recorded fathers". (Historically, women have not always been honest about just who actually was the sire of a child.) Add in various invasions back and forth, and bloodlines, particularly among the non-nobility, can get pretty iffy. No telling how many "Russians" have "Nordic blood" mixed in from the Vikings passing through. No telling how many Russians have a little Mongol mixed in from the Horde passing through.

So it is just not something I get all that concerned about.

Further, I am not a Texan (where I live now), nor a Floridian (where I spent most of my childhood), nor a Pennsylvanian (where my parents came from), nor a Missourian (where I was born).

I am an American.

If you absolutely must classify me as a "Hyphen American", I will answer only to "Mongrel-American", but I am an American first. Not Irish-American, not Scots-American, not German-American, not Catholic-American or any other hyphen-American other than Mongrel-American.

I am just an American, and by that a citizen of these United States of America.