A Loss of Identity

One thing you see a lot of in the US, typically more so than anywhere else, is the constant process of labelling of ones self. And I do not mean the labels of religions or clothing styles, or even sexual orientation/gender. I mean when we label ourselves from some form of heritage such as "I'm African American", "I'm Irish American", "I'm Asian American", etc. Usually, you hear these kinds of descriptions from people whose family has been in the US for a few generations now. We don't see to completely identify as simply just Americans, and I have a theory as to why this may be.

You find in many other countries, that when a person is a citizen of that country, unless they are a dual citizen, you won't here "I'm African British", "I'm Asian Canadian", or "I'm Scottish Norwegian". You typically only find those kinds of labels in the US. And I feel this is due to one major thing that the US doesn't have that the other countries do have. A Culture.

As a country, we do not truly have a culture that defines us as Americans. We are a conglomerate of many individual cultures brought over from all over the world. And while this is a very wonderful thing to see, to be able to see so many different backgrounds being able to live in the same country, it also creates an emptiness for many who's families have been here for many generations due to the loss of their families culture. Its why we get so hung up on trying to find an identity, and why, sometimes in religions, you will get people who want that religion to only be for certain people. You see this mostly in Heathen and Wiccan communities, and I am sure you see it in other communities as well.

Because we lack an identity, a culture, a way to connect to where we come from, we become so caught up in our labels that sometimes we take it too far, and make it too important. Its why in Heathenism you have a 50/50 chance of either finding a page or group that is truly open and accepting of those who have been called by the gods of that path, or finding a page or group that believes only people of European descent (specifically Scandinavian) have any right to even follow the Heathen path.

And in Wicca, again you have a 50/50 chance of either finding those who are open and accepting of who you are and your practice style is, or finding those who say unless you come from a family tradition you cannot claim to be Wiccan.

I think its because of our loss of identity and culture that many become so clingy of these things, and become so protective of it that they turn it into something negative.

Everywhere else you go you have a culture of people, but in the US all we have is a culture of money.

I honestly have no idea how we could work to correct this issue, but maybe we already are. Many groups, religiously, and heritage are working to become more open and to share knowledge with many others. And maybe, just maybe, if we all were to let go of our tight grips on our labels, to work on finding who were are as a people now, while still remembering our ancestors and where we come from, a new culture may emerge that will give us and those to come an identity we can be proud of, that will unite us as Americans, rather than "Insert heritage here" Americans.

(I apologize for any redundancies and/or bad grammar, its almost midnight when I wrote this so there are bound to be mistakes, but these are some of the thoughts that have been rummaging through my head for the past year)