What is patriotism? Patriotism is the love or devotion to one's country. What do I love about my country? I love practically everything about it. When I sat and thought about it though, what I love the most is that America is the melting pot. Being the melting pot means that we accept all kinds of different people from all over the world to our country. Most people come to America for freedom, opportunity or both. In America, it shouldn't matter where you come from, as long as you come to live in peace and work hard for freedom and opportunity.
The melting pot isn't good for just those people who come. It is good for the people already here; because the great thing is that we all get to enjoy the best parts of many different cultures. In America, the best ideas become reality because people have freedom and opportunity to embrace them.
Is anybody wearing jeans tonight? If so, you can thank Levi Strauss, a German immigrant. Who likes pizza, pasta and tomato sauce? Mexican food? Chinese food? How about almost any food? Immigrants brought their food along with their dreams when they came to America. Even hamburgers are named after a town in Germany. I could keep going all night, but I won't.
When you consider that everybody here has an ancestor that probably came from someplace else, what can be more American than the idea of the melting pot? Let me finish by reciting the words that appear on the Statue of Liberty, American's most famous symbol of freedom and opportunity.
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
