Vihaan Week #5 - On the Inside

America is often referred to as a melting pot of different cultures. Despite this, I don’t recall ever understanding the depth of that statement.

As somebody who has lived in the Bay Area their entire life, I think it’s pretty reasonable that I haven’t witnessed too much of this American diversity. Part of the reason is the Bay Area in general is quite desensitized to this (when you’re constantly surrounded by people from varying backgrounds, it becomes easy to see diversity as ordinary); another explanation is that the people in Silicon Valley keep themselves so busy that it’s hard to notice anything else.

I don’t know if it’s only me, but the undeniable pressures and expectations of success seem to constantly weigh on my shoulders– now more than ever as college applications steadily approach. That alone is enough to make me cancel plans with friends, sacrifice outings to study, or prioritize work over creative and physical outlets. With all of that going on, it seems hard to fit in anything else, let alone taking the time to appreciate the communities and instances of this “melting pot” that we are right in the middle of.

This relentless pursuit of success, of something meaningful, of the American Dream, might be a limiting factor in the broader context of American culture. America celebrates progress, opportunity, and ambition, but it’s also just as much about culture, community, and creating relationships that transcend material characteristics such as race or religion. 

I’ve frequently seen people so focused on building a successful future that they sometimes forget the very experiences that make life meaningful in the present. But what is the value of living in a country full of different perspectives if we never make time to encounter them?

This leads me into the idea that experiencing diversity and understanding it are not the same thing. You might see Indian restaurants, Chinese supermarkets, or Vietnamese businesses, but how much do you actually know about those people? I think part of the reason people don’t appreciate the incredible diversity present in the Bay Area is that they don’t take the time to look deeper. 

For longer.

I’m quite guilty of this as well. I mean, I’m Indian– yet somehow, whenever I go to an Indian restaurant with my family, I ask them why we don’t go to a place that offers food that I don’t eat every day at home. Looking back, it’s quite regrettable. Still, I’m making efforts: I now ask my mom to speak to me in Marathi when possible, question certain traditions we have, and try to understand our religion better.

Ultimately, I think that understanding and experiencing all the wonderful things that America has to offer might not necessarily come from traveling across the country; maybe it comes from paying just a little bit more attention to the place that you’ve lived your whole life.