After we make the wall, how many gates there will be?

 After we make the wall, how many gates there will be?

          The debate about U.S.A having a better protected border is a common  issue well known by all of us. The border is assaulted everyday with hundreds maybe thousands of illegal immigrants hard working or not, educated or illiterate, but also tons and tons of drugs who go straight to our streets destroying millions of families over the years. A better protected border is imperative. My personal intention is not to discuss about the immigration issues in general but rather to cope with the much intriguing problem of a better immigration policy. U.S.A. need well prepared and hard working immigrants, that will be the pylon of a healthy economy. The need for extra work and extra taxes should be nourished from the already present illegal immigrants we have as well a good program for bringing new trained individuals interested in living the 'American dream'. "Instead of “enforcement only,” we should offer unauthorized immigrants a chance to come forward, register, pay a fine, learn English, pass background checks, and legalize their status" (Waslin, 2010).                                 
          There are around 11 millions (probably more) illegal immigrants living next door, working among us and trying to get a better life, a life they just dreamed about in their countries of origin. "There are people the world over whose sole dream is to come to the United States to avail themselves of the abundance of good and the abundance of opportunity that the United States offers, abundances which their own countries lack"(Kling, 2009). They usually become employed in what is known as "low skilled jobs." These jobs are often labor intensive and don't tend to attract many employees. In the United States for example, the landscaping and construction sectors are the most popular with immigrants as there is generally no requirement to be fluent in the English language. "Consider an America without illegal immigrants. Let's examine our farms first. Who will be picking the crops? Americans used to working in offices, or even as janitors or McDonalds workers, are not going to be willing to work 10 hour days in the Florida heat picking oranges for minimum wage in substandard housing"(Newsvine, 2007). The way more expensive labor would make the produce prices to sky rocket and finally make that standard of living we were used to, not so easy anymore as the same article states: "To get enough workers, farmers must be willing to pay two, three, or many more times the wages they pay now. Farm products, therefore, will cost two, three or many more times what they cost now. Are you willing to pay $10 for a bunch of bananas during banana season? I thought not. Even if you were, enterprising merchants would simply import foreign bananas and undercut the prices of American farmers. To deport illegal immigrants, therefore, would be to kill the American family farm. That surely isn't your intention?"(Newsvine, 2007).

         The entire areas will be affected with the lack of these workers: "Would Mr. Merrill and Mr. Lynch of Merrill Lynch be willing to vacuum their own office? I doubt it. Mow their own lawns? Nope. While they would be able to pay for it, commodity prices would rise for you and I. We'd end up with hundreds of unclean offices and unmowed lawns. Is that worth having a few fewer Spanish-speakers in America?"(Newsvine, 2007)
         Besides the fact everybody legal or illegal pay sales taxes on everything they buy, they pay property taxes on everything, a good example being, if they live in rental, their contributions (payment of lease) are reflected on the landlords income taxes. The figures show that more than 20 percent of the illegals pay taxes just thinking that someday the government will finally get an eye on them and maybe, finally they will be granted, in exchange, a path to legalization: "With the tax deadline approaching, illegal immigrants are sending in federal returns in what appear to be record numbers despite fears heightened by recent immigration raids around the country. The increase in filings comes amid talk of an immigration overhaul, with some proposals introduced in Congress linking amnesty to the payment of taxes. Many illegal immigrants showing up at tax preparation offices around the country say they hope that filing a return will create a paper trail that could lead to citizenship one day"(Berstein, 2007).
          Again I want to come back to the idea that the government loses millions maybe billions of dollars in taxes the other 80 percent of illegals are not filling their tax returns. The taxes of the newly become or in the process to be legalized individuals will maybe make that burst our economy needs to get those positive numbers in the budget again. If we would ask any illegal what will be his/hers biggest wish, they will want to have a valid driver's license, health insurance, they will want to finally own their own house and why not, to live their life like a normal family-in one word, they want to be that new taxpayer.
          The illegals equally need the same attention in healthcare, healthcare they are not supporting by not paying taxes, by the contrary they are drowning the health care budget. "President Obama said this week that his health care plan won’t cover illegal immigrants, but argued that’s all the more reason to legalize them and ensure they eventually do get coverage"(Dinan, 2009). For example imagine a mother having some complications when giving birth (this can easily get over 25000 dollars) doesn't have insurance of any kind, neither money to pay it. What is done in this case, there is the Medicaid program, which covers healthcare for the poor helping this kind of families. And again here comes the vicious circle: the program is supported by who else if not the taxpayers who make little money enough to pay for the taxes, insurance etc.
          Everybody complains about the illegal immigrants but almost nobody comes up with a solution. In my opinion, I believe that a good program implemented by the government is imperative. There is no way on getting eleven million illegal immigrants out of country by tomorrow neither in five years, neither in ten, the costs will be enormous. So why not to make a profit on this situation, why not to give them the chance to prove themselves the same way our grandparents did when they first came here. I would make a plan that overtime, under a strict supervision of the law and specific departments of the government will offer the chance of becoming legal to the qualified persons. "First, a bipartisan, commission must certify (1) that our borders are under control, and (2) that an effective system of employment verification is in place. Then, all illegal immigrants who can prove that they have been working or at school in the United States for at least five years are eligible for amnesty"(Lamm, Harrison, 2010) .
         The government has to provide with a good plan for enforcing the immigration laws by substantially reduce the levels of illegal immigration: more personnel at the border patrol and U.S. Border entrances, better technology and why not a better physical barrier to block future attempts of illegal crossings ( walls, fences). The proposition of amnesty would come after and only after there are significant improvements on these fields.
The so called amnesty would need to be elaborated and debated by highly trained specialists in immigration issues capable of passing a law that would need to be transparent, efficient and fair.
My idea, contains some conditions that need to be respected unconditionally:
First, the illegal immigrants needs to have a clean record in both U.S. and country of origin (as much verification is possible). This is the well known background check.
They would need to prove that they worked for a certain period of time ( maybe 3-5 years). This can be proved with any checks they received (anybody knows that any illegal immigrant can cash their check at any cashers checks or any bank they have an opened account, and yes is legal for an illegal alien to open an account in any U.S. bank). They may also prove their working history with the income tax returns (this is why lots of illegals are filling for tax returns). There are lots of discussions about the illegal immigrants to pay a certain fine. Some say 5000 dollars some say 1000 dollars, some say that the fine for a whole family should be smaller but all of them agree that this needs to be paid in full in a period of time not bigger than five years. I tend to believe that a fine is fair as long as the U.S.C.I.S. processing fees are not outrageous. There are also discussions about the period the newly legal resident receives 'the green card' and they would have the right to finally apply for naturalization (citizenship). I would tend to say ten years with the unconditional respect on American laws and values. I know, the rules started to get numerous but after a bit of brainstorming, it is obvious a good citizen who respects the laws and values of the state and why not of the common sense, would pass the 'exam of their life' with such a small effort.
          Despite any arguments that approve amnesty there are still some delicate issues. The illegal immigrants broke the law by entering the USA illegally. That is why they are called illegals. "It is unfair for every American citizen and every immigrant who came here legally. There are laws in this country that should be obeyed and followed. By just granting them legal status they are circumventing the entire process. Imagine if you were standing in a line (at the movies, or grocery store) and all of a sudden numerous people cut in front of you. Same principal applies"(Mikea, 2010)

          As stated before, amnesty is one of the best solution we have in hand-it is not 'the solution'. Like in any other debates there are pros and cons about this delicate problem that needs careful attention . Some say that the cost of amnesty might be too high. "Americans already bear a $113 billion annual burden from their government’s refusal to enforce immigration laws. Millions of jobs – that Americans want and need – are filled by illegal immigrants willing to work for low wages. Amnesty would make the largely poorly educated and poorly skilled illegal immigrant population eligible for costly benefits and services, increasing the burden for American taxpayers, and paving the way for family members to follow them here"(Waslin, 2010). If chosen the amnesty path, there is a lot of work involved in creating a good plan to be implemented in order to cope with the previous mistakes our government did when implemented such a law.

          Despite any arguments and debates, in one of my previous blogs I have stated that "United States of America is a multicultural and multiethnic country where people from different parts of the world have chosen to live. For most part of America's history the country's doors were open to the tired, the poor, for the people who simply wanted a better life. Coming from different countries, races and religions, they were driven by the desire and hope of finding new opportunities, the promise land that accomplishes everybody’s dreams". We as a whole need to find the best ways in search of harmony, an essential ingredient for a peaceful life, harmony which will arise  only after finding the path on solving our internal fears, one of them certainly being illegal immigration. "It is important to learn the aspects of the American multiculturalism in order to find the best way to live harmoniously within the multitude of cultures that characterizes this country. Therefore, people need to understand that they need to have their own identity, to be independent and at the same time interdependent with the others. They also have to realize that the others are different individuals, with different cultural background than theirs and once they understand this fact they will be able to find more place for tolerance, for acceptance. This will lead to a better communication and to a peaceful and harmonious life in the multicultural society, which is for the benefit of the entire humanity."   
          The U.S.A are by definition the country of acceptance of the cultural diversity, we are the best example of a melting pot. The eloquent example is the writing on the base of the Statue of Liberty National Monument which not long time ago was the first image of the new country our grandparents came to embrace.

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Emma Lazarus

References:

Michele Waslin, senior policy analyst, American Immigration Council’s Immigration Policy       ---------Center

http://www.immigrationpolicy.org/newsroom/clip/should-americas-illegal-immigrants-         be-offered-legal-status

Chris Kling, Undocumented and illegal immigrants should have a roadmap to US citizenship                     -------- http://www.helium.com/items/550069-undocumented-and-illegal-immigrants-should-------------- have-a-roadmap-to-us-citizenship.

We Need Illegal Immigrants As Much As They Need Us                                            ---------------    ---------http://insert.newsvine.com/_news/2007/09/30/995266-we-need-illegal-immigrants-as--------------much-as-they-need-us

Nina Berstein, Tax Returns Rise for Immigrants in U.S. Illegally                                                     ------ -http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/16/nyregion/16immig.html

Stephen Dinan, Obama: Legalize illegals to get them health care

           http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/sep/18/obama-ties-immigration-to-health-   --------care-battle/

 Richard D. Lamm, Lawrence Harrison / October 15, 2010 A bold plan to solve America's illegal                          --------immigration problem

          http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Opinion/2010/1015/A-bold-plan-to-solve-     -*----------America-s-illegal-immigration-problem

Michele Waslin, senior policy analyst, American Immigration Council’s Immigration Policy     -----------Center

 ---------http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Elections/One-Minute-Debate/2010/1021/Should-----------------America-s-illegal-immigrants-be-offered-legal-status

Andrei Vlad, Cultural Differences.

           http://vaproro.blogspot.com/

Blogging - a new experience

What “blogging” means to me?! When I took this new class, the word “blogging” was just an unknown word, a word that made me think about many web writings with no meaning or purpose. To be honest, I must admit that this new thing I was going to experience, frightened me a little bit at the beginning, because this was my first experience of the kind.
Soon I found myself writing my first blog, trying to do the best that I could to make a very good one out of it. Then it came my second and my third…...and now..... my last one. Although it seemed hard at first, I realized that the more I was writing, the more I felt I wanted to write, as more ideas were crossing my mind.
Isn’t is strange the way things happen sometimes? From a moment when I was not aware of the purpose of blogging, when I considered it just simple thoughts, with no importance for anybody, I came to understand that blogging was in fact a great learning experience. I learnt to search and discover, I learnt how to write things, how to present facts in order to be helpful for the others. More than that, I learnt to analyze what my other colleagues wrote, to share my point of view and to interact with them.
I understood from my experience how important it is to say: “I have to use this assignment to improve my writing skills and to learn new things” instead of just doing it for a good grade. Writing blogs also gave me an impulse to keep trying to produce better-written pieces and not just limit myself to the average. Now, after I finished writing my blogs I must say that I really enjoyed blogging and more than that, I felt satisfaction, the satisfaction that I could share my opinions and my life experience with other people.

Cultural Identity

The term of identity is very much present in the vocabulary of social sciences and also in the day by day language, without people being aware most of the times of its exact significance. Still, there are many approaches and definitions of identity. But despite that, authors representing different tendencies agree on certain ideas. First of all, they all conceive identity as being dynamic and not just something that remains forever unchanged. From this aspect results the great importance given to the interactions between the subject and the environment: an individual never builds his identity by himself. This process of identity building depends both on the others’ judgment and on his own orientations. According to E. Erikson there are two types of identity: personal identity - the feeling of an existential continuity in time which is admitted by the others and the identity of the ego – the feeling of being in a certain way, of being a certain person, of having a certain style of individuality.
Cultural identity refers to the identity of an individual as a result of his appurtenance to a group with specific cultural traits. Having a cultural identity means possessing characteristics similar to the society you come from, including behavior, language, customs, traditions, etc. An individual with a well-shaped cultural identity distinguishes from other individuals belonging to other cultural backgrounds although this person lives in the same cultural environment as them. Despite the possible influences exerted on him by the members of his new society, he will continue to keep his initial traits, even though changed in some aspects, he will keep what he has inherited from his originary culture.
For a better illustration of cultural identity, let us see some examples. For instance, let us take a closer look on the Hispanic population of the United States. Although they live in a totally different cultural environment, which sometimes tends to impose its traits on the newcomers, Hispanic-Americans are considered to be united by customs, language, religion, and values. More than that „One characteristic that is of paramount importance in most Hispanic cultures is family commitment, which involves loyalty, a strong support system, a belief that a child's behavior reflects on the honor of the family, a hierarchical order among siblings, and a duty to care for family members. This strong sense of other- directedness conflicts with the United States' mainstream emphasis on individualism”(Shirley Griggs and Rita Dunn).
The examples can continue with many other people coming from all over the world, who have managed to distinguish themselves in many ways from the society they chose to live in, but I will stop here this time, hoping that someday I will have the opportunity to learn and write more about it.

Work cited:
Shirley Griggs and Rita Dunn. “Cultural Values of Hispanic-Americans.” May 1996
<http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/digests/1996/griggs96.html>

Globalization

Globalization is a complex and controversial process, caused by multiple factors and can be described as a series of events, which originally take place in a certain region of the globe and have wide consequences on the societies and problems from other parts of the world.
The examples of globalization can be seen everywhere in nowadays life: the existence of a world wide informational system, the global problems related to the natural environment, such as the global warming, the spreading of tourism, the development of a world military system, the fight against major health problems such as AIDS, the expansion of the concept of human rights, the adoption of cosmopolitan styles of life, etc.
Globalization supposes two contradictory processes: one of homogenization and the other of differentiation. These two opposite sides have determined people to have shared opinions. It is the reason why some agree that globalization tends to lead to the homogenization of cultures, while others believe that culture opposes resistance to globalization.
According to the former, it is not possible to speak about multiculturalism anymore without considering the fact that hundreds of TV programs present the same images and impose the same ideas and when we all watch the same performances or the same sports.
However, globalization affects us all and despite the fact that some sustain the homogenizing character of globalization at the cultural level, some reality facts prove that there is a cultural resistance to globalization that continues to persist. This resistance gives the possibility for the cultural diversity to exist, which, at its turn can promote the common interests of the society. By measuring, analyzing and comparing cultural values from different countries and geographic areas from all over the world, we can see that the cultural values do not tend towards convergence, although the development of economy pushes all countries to a common direction. Communication is globalized, but this does not mean that it implies a cultural globalization. The reinforcement of cultural identities is used many times as a mechanism to control the chaotic globalization. More than that, identity is a tool built on the premises of experience and generates a sense in the people’s life. This sense can be a religious, national, ethnic, or a territorial one, it is fundamental and characterizes the world at the same extent as globalization does. Communication has a major role in facilitating the movement from monologue to dialogue, from dialogue to cooperation, a cooperation which should not be based only on simple words but also on actions in the relation with different identities. Still, no matter if we are against globalization or not, there is one thing that is for sure: the tendency of globalization is greater and greater and there is no way we can deny that.

Living in a discriminating world

As I stated in my previous blog discrimination cannot be totally eliminated, although its negative impact is never desired. Despite that we all make discriminations, either they are severe or sometimes too insignificant to be taken into consideration. Still, the most important think remains the fact the we should all take attitude towards discrimination and understand that we are all equal in this world. If we are to talk about equality, there is one heavy word that comes into my mind right now and that is slavery. This is, I believe the most severe form of discrimination that ever existed in the history of humankind. Both the ancient times and the modern ones known slavery and when I say this I think about the Egyptean and the American people. We all know a little bit about the slavery history of these people so I will go to another example of discrimination closely related to the slavery in the United States and that is the racial discrimination. Nowadays racial discrimination is one of the most often know forms of differentiating people that we come across with. All the countries characterized by a mixture of people coming from all over the world have this phenomenon of racial discrimination. Sometimes we do not accept the others and reject them because they are Black, or Asian, or European. But is it our fault that we were born that way? More than that, is this a fault at all? What is true is that racial discrimination exists and is unfair. In addition, we must not forget about disability or weight discrimination. Although they are not something that we should laugh at, many people tend to look at obese or disabled persons with different eyes, considering them as not being their equals. There are many other discrimination examples that can be discussed, such as those related to religion, age, unemployment, but I will make my last stop to a nowadays tendency, the discrimination related to sexual orientation. Although some European countries have serious thoughts and debates upon matters such as the legalization of marriages between persons of the same sex it is very difficult for these persons to be accepted by the society the way they are. They are marginalized, rejected and not integrated in the day by day life, at work or in any other place. But this is a long story and mine ends here for the moment by concluding that no matter where we came from or what we did we should all have a chance to equality just as we have the chance to life. We should accept the others the way they are without making them feel bad when they are around us and at the same time continue our paths in life without letting ourselves influenced by what the others say or do.

Discrimination

Discrimination is a controversed subject that can be discussed for hours and hours. I will only begin with a short, theoretical presentation of discrimination and keep the examples of discriminatory attitudes and behaviors for my next blog.
Discrimination represents any situation which supposes a different treatment applied to a person or a group because of their affiliation to a distinct group or social category. Discriminations can be based on race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, age, weight, disability, employment circumstances.
We are confronting so often with discrimination that, there are cases when we do not even see that we tend to have discriminatory attitudes towards people. It is impossible to eliminate discrimination totally, because, only in an ideal society people addapt each time perfectly to the circumstances and people around, without taking into consideration certain injust criteria. And, as nobody and nothing is perfect in this world, we discriminate many times, either we are aware of that or not.
Discrimination represents a behavior of excluding or reducing the access of certain individuals to certain resources in a society. This unfair treatment of people, which is discrimination is based on prejudice. While discrimination represents a form of behavioral manifestation, prejudice represents a negative attitude towards every member of a group, motivated only by the affiliation to this certain group. Discrimination is also linked to stereotypes, which represent the negative component of prejudice. Prejudice is a bent for agression or for any other negative mood or state towards a group which was stereotyped according to some simple characteristics, based on incomplete information. This definition concentrates on the negative aspects of prejudice and does not refer to all moods against any other category of objects or events.
The targets of hostilities and the victims of prejudice vary from a society to another and from a culture to another. Many times they are associated with the lack of power. Social groups as the Asians, African-Americans, women, homosexuals and unemployed people are among the most prejudiced groups. Less obvious, but dicriminatory is viewed the language accent, occupation, mental health or weight.
Discrimination is the one that implies the expression of the attitudes of prejudice. Still, some studies have shown that discrimination does not always come as a result of prejudice, but as a result of the social context.
To reduce discrimination, countries around the world have issued a series of strategies meant to ensure the equality of chances in the areas with discriminated groups. In the United States these strategies are called “Affirmative Action”, while in Great Britain they are know as “Positive Discrimination”. These strategies do not suppose a reversed discrimination but have the purpose of ensuring equal chances for all citizens, no matter the group they belong to. Positive Discrimination and Affirmative Action suppose the the admittance of disadvantages accumulated by the discriminated groups and also the development of practices and policies which help surpass difficulties.

Tolerance

According to the definition, tolerance means the acknowledgement, the admittance and acceptance of other persons’ or groups’ way of life. This supposes the deliberate choice of not interdicting, impeding or interfering in a person’s or a group’s behavior, even if we do not agree with that kind of behavior and we have enough power to interdict or impede it.
At the level of individuals tolerance requests the acceptance of individual differences, no matter how different our values may be. At the level of institutions and our relations with them tolerance supposes that we listen to the ones who have different opinions and we analize their arguments fairly. We should also sustain our own opinions with strong arguments and accept the fact that sometimes our opinions can be wrong and that the others’ opinions can be valuable. In addition, we should not consider that the ones who have different opinions are our enemies. At the level of society, of the whole community around the world, multiculturalism represents an esential condition of the manifestation of tolerance.
In a word, the caracteristic traits of tolerance are: the respect towards diversity, the respect towards the freedom of choosing, solidarity, social dialogue and responsability.
The opposite attitude of tolerance is intolerance, its manifestations being either in relation to race, religious beliefs, political options, or opposite sex. The negative character of intolerance can express itself through the violation of the person’s liberty and dignity, the deprivation of liberty, marginalization, persecution or even physical retrenchment. Intolerance is synonymous with discrimination.
Here are some steps that we can take in the fight against intolerance. First of all we should find out what the other person’s story is, listen without emiting opinions and double check if the things related are accurate. A second step is represented by the identification of the similarities and differences between our system of beliefs and the other person’s system of beliefs. Another important thing that we should do is to evaluate the differences and establish, with solid arguments, pro and con if the system of beliefs belonging to one or the other person are open to revision. All these being said there should always be found a way towards tolerance, but for this thing to happen we need to be open and accept the others as being different individuals.

The hard way

I have recently encountered some problems being a newcomer in the USA. For the people who were born here in the USA, the visa allowance is a totally unknown issue or just a formality. As many others, Romanians are required to get a visa in order to come to the United States. No problem till here. However, I have a very interesting story for you. Last year I made one of the biggest steps in my life, I got married. Everything was arranged the way my future wife and I wanted and that was the reason why this moment was the greatest of my life. It was the first moment I felt that we could both come to the USA to finally start building our life, our future, thing that was almost impossible before the wedding because of this visa allowance. After some time, we went to the American Embassy in Bucharest to receive the visa, but……big problem. We received instead a very short answer: “she cannot leave now with you because you are only an American resident, not an American citizen. She needs to wait for her visa number to be issued and this can take even three, four years from now” and she completed the phrase by adding “sorry, this is the bureaucracy that even ourselves have to face with”. From that exciting moment that I had only one month before our "visit" to the Embassy I shortly stepped to that feeling of desperation thinking that, I have no choice but to be away from my wife for three, four years. Now, after almost one year, I feel the same, the same pain in my soul but at the same time I still have the hope that everything will be ok. I go back to Romania each summer and winter, the time I spend there sometimes is even four five months, this being a great opportunity for me to taste an almost complete life. However, this is not a way of living for such a young couple like we are. Put yourselves in my shoes. How would you feel? And, why does all this have to happen? Because of bureaucracy?
I work hard, I pay taxes, and I go to school…..The same thing everybody is doing. Still there is a difference…for me at this moment it seems there is only the hard way.

Cultural Assimilation

I intend to discuss in my present blogg about a process that many people tend to mix up with multiculturalism, namely assimilation. As I have already talked about multiculturalism I will make now a brief description of assimilation to have an idea what it is about. Sociology defines cultural assimilation as the taking over of the customs, traditions and the language belonging to a majority by an individual, group of individuals or a minority of people, having as consequence the loss of the characteristic traits of the minority.
Cultural assimilation can be observed very well at the level of the immigrant population. Immigrants get most of the times through a state of change after entering a country with new cultural characteristics, different from theirs. Step by step, either easier or harder, they are assimilated in the society that becomes a new home for them, gaining similar traits with the members of this specific society.
Multiculturalism goes hand in hand with assimilation, being totally opposed to it. Where there is assimilation, there is no place for multiculturalism. Assimilation takes a culture, and makes that culture like your own by following your cultural beliefs, while multiculturalism preserves cultural differences. It has been said that assimilation is something similar with the term ‘melting pot’ because people are changing both cultures into something that they are not. However, many state that assimilation has negative implications, as it contributes to the disappearance, the loss of the distinctive traits of the national minorities and the aboriginal cultures. It is important to understand what the process of cultural assimilation can do to the level of minority cultures because, once we are aware of the destructive nature of assimilation, we can also take a stand and fight against the disappearance of cultural values.

A Better Understanding of the Multicultural Phenomenon

The notion of culture is very difficult to define, as it covers a wide and hard to limit area. In addition, various social sciences have approached the term from particular points of view, but they have not reached a complete definition yet. A culture contains the norms and values specific to a certain group of people, the products of their spiritual and material activities. It is untrue to consider that a society is formed of one culture only, as this society will always contain more than one culture. This kind of society can be called a multicultural society, a grouping of various cultural entities living in a common physical space without explicitly intending to communicate and cooperate.
The multicultural societies are existent realities, in which people belonging to different groups get in contact accidentally when certain life circumstances impose it. The main trait of a peaceful cohabitation in the multicultural society is tolerance, subject that I will talk about in one of my following bloggs. With the help of tolerance, several different cultures are able to coexist in the same space, environment, without having conflicts in general. Another aspect, also to be discussed further is globalization, a tendency of nowadays society that stimulates towards a continuous understanding, acceptance and affirmation of diversity.
In the process of building social identity, multiculturalism opposes the homogenizing strategies of the modern society, considering them oppressive and emphasizing differences and diversity. The ideology of multiculturalism proposes itself to adjust communities in order to sustain their different cultures. However, this fact does not mean that multiculturalism opposes to changes. On the contrary, it ask for respect and appreciation from all cultural groups towards other groups and also gives the individual the right to leave or refuse his own cultural group.

American Multiculturalism

The topic of multiculturalism has always been a subject for many debates, describing the cultural and ethnic diversity of a nation. Multiculturalism directly relates to the people in the United States, and even more specifically to the problem of maintaining it in different countries.
United States of America is a multicultural and multiethnic country where people from different parts of the world have chosen to live. The immigrants who came to settle here carried with them their various backgrounds of culture, ethnic origin, values and beliefs.
For most part of America's history the country's doors were open to the tired, the poor, for the people who simply wanted a better life. Coming from different countries, races and religions, they were driven by the desire and hope of finding new opportunities, the promise land that accomplishes everybody’s dreams.
It is important to learn the aspects of the American multiculturalism in order to find the best way to live harmoniously within the multitude of cultures that characterizes this country. Therefore, people need to understand that they need to have their own identity, to be independent and at the same time interdependent with the others. They also have to realize that the others are different individuals, with different cultural background than theirs and once they understand this fact they will be able to find more place for tolerance, for acceptance. This will lead to a better communication and to a peaceful and harmonious life in the multicultural society, which is for the benefit of the entire humanity.

My Topic

At a first reading, my topic might not be so interesting, convincing or a good subject to brainstorm about. In the eyes of a person who never traveled and who never cared about looking around, this is just another simple fact of every day life. But just think about this: everything is related to it. The biggest conflicts nowadays are related to this difference between individuals, between the ideas that they have and the beliefs they don’t want to lose. Think about the war in Iraq, in Afghanistan. They don’t care about what happens to them, to the people around them. They just want their beliefs to be heard, listened and used by everybody no matter what. This is a difference that I, for instance do not understand.On the other side, here in the U.S.A, this mixture of different people coming from totally different worlds can live together and can build such a beautiful and great country. If you go to the bank, to a regular store or just walk, you see a lot of people with different beliefs and ideas working together without having any problems.
These people form what was traditionally known as the “melting pot” of the world, name that tends to be replaced nowadays by such expressions as “salad bowl” because the American people is seen now as a mixture of individual characteristics and not a blend of cultures. However, the United States is known as the country with the most diverse population, which makes it unique and gives it a special image among the countries of the world.

My Major Decision

Each of us, at a certain moment in our life, thinks about visiting another country either this thought becomes reality or remains just a dream. However, moving from one country to another can be much more difficult than one could ever think. When I moved from Romania to the U.S.A. it proved to be much more challenging than I thought it would be.
There were many adjustments I had to experience in order to make my life better in my new country, adjustments that I had never even thought about before I left Romania. Leaving Romania and starting a new life in the United States was one of the hardest things I have ever been through in my life, because I had to get used to living my life away from my family. After many years and for the first time in my life I came to live with my father and, on the other hand, I left my entire extended family behind. This new experience was both very exciting and very painful for me, as I was happy to finally see my father, but also very sad because I felt like I was leaving behind a piece of myself.

In addition, learning to speak American English proved to be extremely difficult and confusing for me. I have studied English for six years in school, but I have never met or talked to an American before I moved here. In Romanian schools, we usually study two or three foreign languages, a very good reason for me to be very confident in my English knowledge. However, to my surprise, the English that I learnt in school back in Romania proved to be much different from the language actually spoken by Americans. Also, I have encountered an unusual way of speaking English, such as the slang, “right on!”, “no ya mean!”, “what up!”, “double bomb” and the broken English, the incorrect use of English words, which were very hard for me to understand.
Nevertheless, the most important thing I have learned coming here was to adjust to the general American way of life by freely choosing to let go of some of my Romanian roots and accepting the idea of becoming a “Romanian-American”. I was able to adapt to my new life despite the differences I encountered in the United States, as compared to Romania. One of these differences was that I had to conform to new rules, in school, in traffic, in society in general, which not only were new to me but also were very strict. What is more, I came across with a new way of thinking and new customs, which made me, think how simple things are in Romania. Generally, Romanians have more free time for themselves, because they usually have one job and daily life there is easier as you do not have to go through the stress of having too many jobs and too little time to do everything. Another important aspect to be noticed is that Romanians have the freedom of living in their houses without having to pay mortgage because the price of the house is incomparable lower than here. Furthermore, the car is not such a big necessity as it is here because there are many commuting ways or you can simply walk to stores or to your job, thing that avoids staying in traffic for hours, as it happens in the United States.
Fortunately, I managed to cope with almost everything here, and although I miss my family, and my country, I know that this new challenge brought me benefits. I am proud of the progress I have made in the short time I have been living in the United States and I thrive on this change because every second of my life here has proved worthy to me. Every day I learn new and interesting things that help me know myself and those around me a bit more, and I like what I am becoming, a person that is stronger and wiser.
This is what I experienced and still experience sometimes, after I took the major decision of moving to the United States. From the outside, America seems to be a beautiful dream but when we actually get to live here, we realize that what we imagined is not how reality looks like. Things that seemed to be very easy than, now are very hard, especially because of so many differences that exist between these two countries, Romania and the United States, and the trial to adapt to them is difficult. Even though the transition from one cultural custom to the next proved to be extremely hard at first, I would not change my experiences for anything. I have slowly evolved into a unique combination of traditional Romanian custom and American style. Every experience I have had is very precious for me. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity of learning so many new things, see new places and meet new people.