Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Cast-outs or the chosen ones

I always think that people choose to come to the US because they believe what this country stands for. But I was reading George Carlin's "Brain Dropping" and realized that you can look at this another way: that we're all cast-outs from other countries. We can't fit into where we were born. We choose to leave because we can't stay with our own people any more! I think both reasons are plausible and probably both are true. Of course the synergy of these cast-outs is amazing, so maybe it's not too bad to be not conformed.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Independence day

Last Saturday I went out for a walk like I always do after dinner. Just watched the national celebration at the Mall on TV, I didn't expect much for the lakefront of Chicago because Chicago has its Independence Day firework on 7/3, a smart move to avoid conflict with the much bigger firework extravaganza in the nation's capital. But much to my delight and surprise, fireworks were being displayed all along the lakefront on 7/4! I reckoned it might be the Aldermen who organized it. There was no public announcement. People just knew and they gathered, with blankets and beach chairs. The lakefront was flooded with people but it was not as congested as the area close to Navy Pier on the previous firework night. I realized that was the first time I spent 7/4 in a big American city.

The funny thing I've noticed was that so many people who were out there enjoying the celebration were speaking a foreign language. It's amazing how many immigrants are in this big city. I bet half of the people can't sing the American National Anthem (like me!).