As citizens, we are all proud to be part of the great American “melting pot.” We Americans have one, broad common culture based on our history and current developments and we would agree on many elements of that culture, but reaching full agreement on a statement of it in twenty-five words or less would cause a long and difficult debate.

For one thing, there are dozens, if not hundreds, of sub-cultures in our country.

Consider a few:
European-American, African-American, Asian-American, Native-American and a multitude of other hyphenated Americans – white, black, brown, people of color – Buddhist, Christian, Jew, Moslem and many more religions and sub-groups within each religion, and agnostics and atheists – the hungry and homeless, the working poor, the large middle class, the wealthy – the young, the middle aged, the old, the old old, the healthy, the sick, the dying – union and non-union – athletes and fans of baseball, golf, football, soccer, tennis, and other sports – book club members, gamblers, beach “bums,” mountain climbers, video game enthusiasts, internet addicts, movie, ballet and theater goers, television watchers – those with limited formal education and those with much – northerners, southerners, east coasters, west coasters – the slim, the obese, the small, the tall – extremists and moderate Democrats, Independents, Republicans and non-voters – workers, executives, the unemployed, the retired – military service personnel, veterans, other civilians – lovers and haters of modern music – and anyone could add many other sub-cultures to this list.

Each one of us, of course, is a part of many sub-cultures simultaneously.Living with diversity is not always easy. Some individuals or groups within many sub-cultures can really be annoying at times to some people in other sub-cultures.

But, surely we can agree that all citizens have God-given and legal rights to live the way they want and say what’s on their mind, while staying within the boundaries of our Constitution and laws – and always respecting others’ choices and differences. We can show some common courtesy and compassion; or at least keep our most negative thoughts to ourselves.