“MOM, WHAT IS AMERICA?”
“My love, it’s your country, a big country.”
“BIG, YOU MEAN, AS GIGANTIC AS THE OCEAN?”
“Right. Indeed, America is like an ocean.”
“THEN, MOM, AMERICANS ARE FISHES!”
“What an interesting idea you have.
Indeed, there are many kinds of Americans just as many as there are kinds of fishes in the ocean.
Fishes with white scales,
fishes with black scales,
fishes with yellow scales.
Each kind lives with its own group.”
“BUT, MOM, IF A FISH WITH WHITE SCALES MARRIED A FISH WITH BLACK SCALES,
A BABY WITH BLACK AND WHITE SCALES WOULD BE BORN, WHAT WOULD HAPPEN!”
“Well, it may belong to either group, or both or neither.
But it may FEEL uncomfortable to really belong to any one group.”
“THEN IF A BUNCH OF FISHES WITH MIXED SCALES WERE BORN,
THEY COULD MAKE THEIR OWN GROUP IN WHICH THEY FEEL COMFORTABLE.”
“My son, you are sweet.”
“MOM, REMEMBER WHEN WE WENT TO THE BEACH?’
THE COLD WATER AND WARM WATER WERE NEXT TO EACH OTHER.
WE COULD NOT SEE IT, BUT WE COULD FEEL IT ON OUR SKIN.”
“Yes, my love. And you tried to mix the waters with your little feet,
like you stir the water in a bathtub.”
“AND, RIGHT AFTER THAT,
AGAIN THE COLD WATER AND WARM WATER WERE NEXT TO EACH OTHER,
AND YOU SAID, ‘Even the water, the most flexible thing, takes a long time to mix.’ “
“And my son, you said, ‘MOM, THE COLD WATER SHOULD GET WARM ITSELF.’ “
“MOM, THERE ARE CURRENTS IN THE OCEAN NAMED AMERICA.”
“That’s right. Where a group of fishes lives, a current starts.
Yet, some fishes swim away to the another current.”
“AND THOSE FISHES CAN MAKE FRIENDS AND BE HAPPY IN ANOTHER CURRENT?”
“Well, yes, some can. But, some can’t. Some may miss friends of the same scales
and may return to the old place.”
“WHY DO THEY MISS FRIENDS WITH SIMILAR SCALES?”
“My son, I don’t know well.
They may feel comfortable in the commonness of having the same scales.”
“MOM, I’VE GOT A GOOD IDEA. WHY DON’T WE MAKE ARTIFICIAL SCALES TO PUT ON,
SO WE CAN BE THE SAME EVEN THOUGH OUR NATURAL SCALES ARE DIFFERENT.”
“That’s what people have been doing. No matter how long the artificial scales cover up the real ones,
the real ones reveal themselves eventually.”
“MOTHER, I’VE GOT A GOOD IDEA.
FISHES MAY HAVE TO DEPEND ON SCALES TO FIND COMMONNESS.
BUT, WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS. WE DON’T HAVE TO DEPEND ON PHYSICAL COMMONNESS. WE CAN DEPEND ON COMMONNESS IN HUMANITY, SOMETHING IN OURSELVES:
TRUTH, VIRTUE, AND LOVE.”
“What wisdom you have, my son. Whatever scales you were born with, my love, swim boldly across the ocean of America.
Remember, America is your country.”
1978