Proud Americans

Los Angeles -- Downtown??

What I pleasant surprise! I had always viewed L.A. as the symbol of excess in America. With Hollywood and all the glitz and in your face debauchery, to say I had low expectations for my visit to L.A. was a gross understatement.

My wife recently had a Rotary International convention there and we took, what prevailing wisdom considered, a chance and booked our hotel in the heart of downtown L.A. in Little Tokyo. What a great decision. The excitement, buzz and culture in this entire area was overwhelming.

The people were nice, the streets were clean and activities were everywhere. A short walk around town took from a sushi lunch with my wife (she then went to her convention), past a traditional Mexican dance and festival and into China Town. On my way back to the hotel, I wandered into a Catholic mission church and sat through mass in Spanish. The next day, we visited the fashion district, the toy district, the jewelry district and the garmet district -- people were everywhere.

The overwhelming observation I made was that L.A. was open and welcoming to all -- especially people celebrating their culture. After all, they have Little Tokyo, Little China, Little Italy ... the list goes on. Yet, to suggest that because these people celebrate their culture that they somehow are not "American" misses the entire point of L.A. This place is as American as it gets. These people are living life.

The only difference is they are choosing what it means to them to be American. Nobody will tell people in this community what it means to live -- after all isn't that the American dream? Watching the Celtics v. Lakers game at a sports bar in Little Tokyo confirmed it for me -- I am proud that there are so many people that are creating their own definition of what it means to be a "Proud American."