A Tear in the Fabric of Unity

I cannot help but to admire the idea behind the European Union. When listening to the lecture at the Europen Council this afternoon, I felt an odd, displaced sense of awe and pride for this group even though the United States does not share membership or affiliation. At some point during the presentaion, it was mentioned that there was a desire to attain a sense of unity similar to that of the United States. It was refreshing to receive a positive view of the United States. So far, my experience in Europe has yielded a negative perspective of America and Americans in general. Hearing this comparison brought about a feeling of joy that my home country more often than not criticized could be looked at as a model for something like unity.

Parliamentarium, Brussels, Belgium

When I think of America, I think of diversity. While this notion of diversity is something we Americans praise, I find that we tend to overstress the diversity to the point that racial discrimination is still an exacerbating problem in our country. We focus so much on claiming an identity with a group of people, whether by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and/or religion, that we differentiate ourselves daily from other people. In our efforts to simplify, to connect to one group of people, we ostracize ourselves and others.

However, despite and perhaps in the midst of this differentiation, I do think every single American defines his or herself as a free citizen, as a free individual who can be whoever he or she wants to be, and can identify with whatever group he or she identifies with most. In this manner, each American has the freedom to exercise freedom, and in this there is unification.

Being in Europe has increased this sense of unity for me. I feel very connected to other Americans in Europe, including my classmates and those travelers unknown to me, due to the shared experience of not knowing a foreign language, of receiving agitated glares, of making an accidental faux pas. After hearing the lecture, I realize how fortunate the United States is to be able to boast of such a unified nation, and then I realize how foolish we are in our inability to put discrimination behind us.

On Saturday, I met a really lovely German woman who praised the United States and Americans for their friendliness. Per our conversation, every other summer, she travels to the US to road trip across the various states. Every vacation has exceeded the prior one. I won't forget this woman because her genuine positive attitude regarding her trips made me quite proud to be an American.

In contrast to our often taken for granted unification, the European Union strives to attain an overall connectedness. Yet this group already possesses a divide between the countries in its admission system. This process alone, which could take years, is in my opinion, a glorified system of judgment and discrimination. At its most basic function, the process of admitting countries asks whether or not the applicant country is good enough. Under this system of evaluation, I do not know how any unification could exist.

My question, then, is if rejection is a possibility, is unity?

 

Sophia