In response to Anna Quidlen's "A Quilt of a Country: Out of Many, One?"
“What is the point of a nation in which Arab cabbies chauffeur Jewish passengers through the streets of New York--and in which Jewish cabbies chauffeur Arab passengers, too, and yet speak in theory of hatred, one for the other? What is the point of a nation in which one part seems to be always on the verge of fisticuffs with another, blacks and whites, gays and straights, left and right, Pole and Chinese and Puerto Rican and Slovenian? Other countries with such divisions have in fact divided into new nations with new names, but not this one, impossibly interwoven even in its hostilities.” Anna Quindlen makes this very interesting statement in her essay “A Quilt of a Country: Out of Many, One?” This quote from the passage brings up a very good point. The United States of America, known as the “melting pot” is filled with the many different peoples of the world. This quote happens to bring into retrospect the fact that despite the fact that our country was based on “equality”, stereotypes and conflict still exist between the groups. As Quindlen does talk about the separation between the races, she does speak of the unity that comes with our troubles, such as the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Despite our differences, on that day in our history, people all around the country came together. Yes, the terrorist act was devastating, but it also brought some much needed unity.
I think this article had a lot of unfortunate truth to it. Sadly, our country does have its segregation. However, this issue has gotten better over the years. The clearly drawn lines drawn between the races have been well erased. Our country was very much unified on 9/11. It was incredibly sad, yes, but our country bonded over it. I also liked how Quindlen talked about the difference between generations and the Ma and Pa stores that used to be owed by Italians, Jewish, or European are now owned by Korean, Latin American, or Iraqi. What’s the difference?! In our generation some people make it a big deal, when in reality, it is what our country was created on.
