I’m not sure why, but living in Sweden has suddenly made me very patriotic. I’m proud to be an American. Sure we have our problems and struggles, but what society doesn’t? Growing up in such a diverse community of people I always felt “American”, even though my parents were Vietnamese immigrants. My childhood friends were all different ethnicities: Indian-American, Vietnamese-American, Chinese-American, African-Americans and Mexican-Americans. But we were all Americans. I can see that it isn’t that way here. Daniel was born and raised in Sweden so he is Swedish, but because his parents immigrated from Macedonia some 30 plus years ago, they still feel somewhat like foreigners because they are not “true” Swedes. They are fully integrated in society, they work, pay taxes, speak the language and do all the things Swedish people do. America is such a melting pot of races, especially in California. You have people from all walks of life and everyone came from somewhere. There are very few people I know that are native to the land. That is why I find it so strange here and maybe that’s the reason for my patriotism. I am happy to have been raised to feel like a true American without any limitations because my parents were from Vietnam. It concerns me a little bit about my future children, how will they be viewed?
