By Debra J. Mamorsky
Founder & Editor in Chief

We are you. If you look in the mirror of this large country of immigrants, you will see yourself, your culture, or perhaps who you might want to be.

We are where we live. “Demographic detective” Michael Weiss informs us that who we are is defined by the part of the country and the neighborhood in which we choose to live. As unique individuals, we have selected what marketers call a neighborhood “cluster” that identifies our lifestyle. Neighborhood clusters reflect our purchasing patterns and personal lifestyle preferences. For example, the “Kids and Cul-de-Sacs” cluster, the largest in the country, eats Brie cheese, drives Infinities, buys CD Rom disks and shops at Price Club. Others like the “Urban Gold Coast” (elite urban singles and couples), “Upward Bound” (young upscale white collar families), “Single City Blues” (ethnically mixed urban singles) are part of the list of 62 different clusters major marketing firms have identified in this country. This number is ever increasing, or as marketers would say, further fragmenting us into separate groups. Weiss reports that there are clusters such as the ones we have chosen for ourselves all around the world, where, if you were to establish new digs in Spain, for example, you could easily find people whose lifestyles are just like yours, their musical taste, their choice of cars, homes, family values, and choice of foods the exact image of who you are as defined by where you live.

We are diverse. And here’s the irony. What makes this country special, what holds us all together as a country, what we protect as rabidly as our freedom of speech is our absolute desire to respect, in fact embrace differences. This has been a gradual process increasing over the past 30 or 40 years as more immigrant families have made their nests in this country. Today we live in a country where the traditional staple of the ‘50’s, ketchup has been replaced by salsa. And, it is this salsa, or our relatively new nature to sample everything, absorbing it into our country that makes us special. We have everything here and we are proud of it. That everything includes our tolerance for all kinds of religions or no religion at all. In fact, it is this that has become the centerpiece and smart underpinning of Under Secretary Charlotte Beers’ public diplomacy marketing campaign. Charged with the responsibility of letting the world know who we are as Americans so that people won’t hate us for reasons that are just not valid, Under Secretary Beers is fine-tuning a “brand image” of Americans as not only tolerant of religious differences, respectful of Islamic belief, which is freely practiced in this country, but she intends to show how happy religious Muslims are living in our country.

We are all human beings with the potential to do great good and noble deeds and to wreck havoc on the world. And, as great as we are as a country, maybe even the best in the world, we are often seen by others around the world as arrogant, a super-power that wields our mighty arm for the sake of showing the world exactly who is boss. I urge you to read Ben Silverman’s piece on this. Silverman, who reports in this issue from China, learns first hand how others see us.

We are, nonetheless, the place that everyone wants to come to find a future. The harsh views of other people in other countries are perhaps cradled in jealousy. Yet, we need to reflect if there is an ounce of truth in these words and decide who we want to be in the world’s neighborhood. Do we want to go it alone as the world’s policeman (unilaterally), setting the moral compass as we see fit, our way? Or do we wish to strengthen our might, demonstrating to the world our tolerance and embrace of differences, by joining forces with other nations, together establishing the rules for wayward countries and terrorists who step out of line (multilaterally)? It seems the answer lies in who we are as Americans, but at times we are frustrated human beings who just want to get our point across, no ifs, ands or buts.

We are evolving to establish a better world. The search for truth, and the desire to improve is as much a part of human nature as anything else. Be a part of the world. Take a stand in what is happening. Have an opinion. Help to mold the great future you have before you. Reach out to others who seem to be different and open yourself to their world, their culture. If we learn anything at all about who we are as Americans or who we are as human beings, we discover that we are definitely not alone - that there are others in your neighborhood in this country and around the world just waiting to chip in to join your effort to make the world we share a better place to live.