“…united people, a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, who, by their joint counsels, arms and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established their general Liberty and Independence.”

It rang true with its time, yet positively resounds today. Why? Well, contrary to what racists and dividers say, technology and progress illimuninate our oneness. In reverse order, let us count the ways:

1) More and more of our people have access to the same rights

2) Our armed forces played a significant role in integration

3) Media has proved a unifying force in shared culture, with the internet providing unheard of communication (Hey, BC, Ala, and Cali!)

4) The Constitution provides our framework (and more!), with our shared experience functioning as a binding religion and language

5) Finally, science, agreeing with the Old Testament, does point to the the fact that we share common parents [This goes far beyond Oprah's ancestry
or O'Cheney cousins to original African roots (Lucy/ Eve--who-you-will)]

I think that Puck’s words touch on something very key. We weren’t raised by wolves or picked by destiny. We CHOSE to be a people. And WE did that: not a magic hand from the sky, an eye on a pyramid, or gnomes busied writing while folks were napping.

And we will continue to keep choosing: including, learning, growing.

The Constitution is not only a system of ideas, it is a matrix which generates ideals.

Consider Strasbourg, France. German name for a French city–what does that tell us? It isn’t a new place; it has been inhabited (and battled over) by both ethnic Frenchmen and ethnic Germans for centuries. The “Swiss” don’t even pretend to be “one” nation–they may be politically and economically united, but not linguistically, and John Calvin notwithstanding, there have continually been Catholics there. Rome? Both ancient and modern Rome have been consistently multicultural (Romulus & Remus didn’t exactly hail from the Italian peninsula, and Paul of Tarsus–Asia Minor–was a religious & cultural Jew and a Roman citizen simultaneously!). We have to go to more geographically isolated places like Japan or Korea, which have historically taken steps to maintain homogeneity for Jay’s description to be more accurate.

Maybe we should ask “Are we one enough? Are we willing to be one where it counts?” If we are (or have been or will be) one, it’s because we CHOOSE to be.

Thinking about this question, I’ve thought it’s really a matter of how we define ONE. Whether we expect a homogeneous answer or can accept a heterogeneous one. So, now we’re talking about dynamics in mathematical equations and the definition of words.

It always comes back to how we understand the words we use, doesn’t it?