On America and ethnic ancestry

[ICantSpellDawg]

As Americans how much pride do you take in your ethnic background?

I am generally interested to find out how much Americans associate with the "old country" I think it will vary depending on where you are I know a faced a culture shock just moving from San Antonio to Lubbock. On the one San Antonio's culture was much more varied wether it be Mexican German or Czech all these people took allot of pride in where they came from even if it was hundreds of years ago. At times it was tiresome and I bemoaned at the pig headedness of these people and they way they held on to traditions rather than become American. I thought as a country thats given them so much a country which my family has been a part of for over 400 years one that they helped build (rather literally) why couldn't they just drop it. Then I moved here and its really all kind of white bread. The food isn't as good or varied, there is really ethnic flavor and I'm finding it all kind of boring (the city not uni) I'm not saying you cant do both merely posing a question.

My family is predominately Irish Catholic from co. Mayo and co. Moneghan. I've played the bag-pipes and gone to hibernian meetings in my youth, but as I've grown up I realize that the Irish I'm proud of are the ones that are in America. Visiting Ireland numerous times I am consistently disappointed as I never see the type of Irish or the ideals that I've been raised to cherish in my friends and family. The Irish in the U.S. are proud of their heritage, where the Irish I meet in Ireland wish they were someone else (English, French or American). Generalizations of course, but I have made the break and celebrate hiberno-american heritage over Irish heritage. I realize that my childish idolization of the Irish culture was immature, but it still hurt when it was inevitably crushed. I curse them for their ordinary humanity when they should be superhuman.