Immigrant Acts and Immigrant Encounters

To me, these two writings explore some of the more stressful implications of being an immigrant: not being accepted by the community you are integrating into and being criticized by loved ones in the community it appears that you are leaving. The problem with this thinking is that these communities are only constructs. They are heavily practiced constructs, but constructs nonetheless. At the end of the day, we are all people, and we all have to get along. For an immigrant, it is not beneficial to stress about losing key aspects of their home culture, for that culture is not their identity, it is merely an experience in their life. The fact is that they chose to come to a new place, for better or for worse, and this new place has new experiences that will blend and change an individual. By creating these imaginary boundaries around "American" and "Foreign" an immigrant is left to feel like a non-coexisting amalgamation leaving one safe boundary and failing to every fully achieve complete assimilation into the new one. The reality is that each of us has a unique blend of experiences and practices that make up who we are, and we shouldn't feel either shame for changing or lame for being a little different from the new environment. Okay, so this view is very idealistic and everyone needs to accept it for it to really be that powerful enough to, say, defeat racism. However, I think that small affirmations of this philosophy can help immigrant peoples feel more like peoples, feel valued and respected. All in all, people must realize that roots are valuable experiences, but one's present is valuable too, and in a lifetime these experiences will inevitably fluctuate.