What I Saw in America

What I Saw in America, by G. K. Chesterton

Chesterton point out “I have never managed to lose my old conviction that travel narrows the mind. At least a man must make a double effort of moral humility and imaginative energy to prevent it from narrowing his mind. Indeed there is something touching and even tragic about the thought of the thoughtless tourist, who might have stayed at home loving Laplanders, embracing Chinamen, and clasping Patagonians to his heart in Hampstead or Surbiton, but for his blind and suicidal impulse to go and see what they looked like. This is not meant for nonsense; still less is it meant for the silliest sort of nonsense, which is cynicism. The human bond that he feels at home is not an illusion. On the contrary, it is rather an inner reality. Man is inside all men. In a real sense any man may be inside any men. But to travel is to leave the inside and draw dangerously near the outside. So long as he thought of men in the abstract, like naked toiling figures in some classic frieze, merely as those who labour and love their children and die, he was thinking the fundamental truth about them. By going to look at their unfamiliar manners and customs he is inviting them to disguise themselves in fantastic masks and costumes. Many modern internationalists talk as if men of different nationalities had only to meet and mix and understand each other. In reality that is the moment of supreme danger the moment when they meet. We might shiver, as at the old euphemism by which a meeting meant a duel.”

In light of this paragraph, it is understood that a person can be unique regardless to where the person goes. One may leave their native land to a foreign place and learn new things, but many maintain their way of life and who they are. There may be some people who face changes that are great such as personality and even how they do things. Not to mention, like in this country, many people are open minded, but there may be some who are reluctant to accepting differences, thus creating conflicts amongst each other.

I choose this quote because I identify myself with this paragraph, I learned from different culture, but I still preserve my identity as Dominican person who need to immigrate to find a better way of live. I adopt this nation as many immigrants. In the United States I am feeling the emotion to be independence. It is a place where people have to make effort in order to expect some gains in return. Some of the effort entails is working and studying hard. Chesterton point out “I have never managed to lose my old conviction that travel narrows the mind. Travel ought to combine amusement with instruction; but most travellers are so much amused that they refuse to be instructed. I do not blame them for being amused; it is perfectly natural to be amused at a Dutchman for being Dutch or a Chinaman for being Chinese.” I think it is not wrong when you face some change, it is great in order to grown up.