Melting Pot? Maybe Not.

In the past two weeks I've seen a lot of places and seen many faces and well, I've seen a lot of faces in many places. The thing that has stood out to me most is the sheer diversity in the faces. In the spirit of full disclosure, I must admit that my previous experience with British culture and people comes from 4th and 5th grade social studies classes, and episodes of "Mr. Bean" and "Are You Being Served?" For examples of the modern British set, I turned to the Nickelodeon Films epic, Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.

Needless to say, none of these frames of reference were particularly colorful, so I was quite surprised to see just how colorful British people are. Although London is a tourist destination, one thing that I particularly like about the city is that one can not readily distinguish the tourists from the locals, that is, as long as no one is speaking. I love how people here seemingly seamlessly coexist with little regard to the color of one's skin, ethnic, racial, or religious background.

Maybe it's because I'm from the south, but very rarely do I see children who don't resemble one another playing together in schoolyards. It is even more rare for teenagers to hang out with people who do not look like them, and the ones who do are the exceptions, not the rule. And perhaps because I do not live in the most metropolitan of cities I find it pleasantly surprising that here, people do not even bat an eye at interracial couples and their children, which I might add is as it should be.

It goes beyond skin color, though. On the sidewalks or in the tube it is nothing to find a man in a tailored suit next to a goth chick or a guy who looks like he just stepped out of the 80s. I've seen more than a handful of Harajuku girls and they haven't all been Japanese, or even Asian for that matter. In my city, one would have to go specifically to an area that caters to the Islamic community to find food that conforms to Halal standards, but in some London-area KFCs are now offering Halal products. In London, rainbow flags are displayed just as prominently as Union Jack.

While having lunch in St. James park last week, I would have if I could have, taken pictures of the children playing hide-and-seek among the massive trees. If it were not illegal to photograph the children, this very blog entry would feature a picture of children, dressed in blue and white uniforms, running and laughing, some of the girls with pigtails, and others with veils flowing in the wind.

This blog has absolutely nothing to do with our visit to the Tower of London today, well except for the fact that my former social studies teachers would be happy to know that I actually saw where Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned. Maybe it was the hoards of tourists from all over who were at the Tower today that got me to actually put into words a sentiment that has been with me, pretty much since I stepped out of the St. Pancras International Train Station, who knows? What I do know is that maybe we Americans might consider being a little more tolerant and benevolent and maybe we can become the melting pot that our nation was intended to be.