Teat Dip and Opera

You gotta love a guy who mixes up teat dip while smoking a fine Cuban cigar, listening to opera on the radio, and drinking a Bud Light.  Only in America, with the diversity of our cultures, would something like this even make sense.  My brother-in-law, who services dairy farmers across the heartland of fertile Amish country, is about as all-American as a guy can get.  He built his entrepreneurial business from scratch, driving a large dairy products truck that he takes all over the back roads of Ohio, keeping farmers supplied with everything from the above mentioned teat dip, to milk replacer, to black galoshes for sloshing through manure.  He votes Republican, believes in the stars and stripes, promotes hometown football, goes to church on Sunday, and drinks Bud Light.  And now, apparently, he has taken on the interesting twist of listening to opera.

That is what makes America so great and is why this diversity in culture should always be treasured.  Only in America would it make sense that a 49-year-old mom (that would be me) who grew up washing the teats of dairy cows and teaching newborn calves how to suckle a bottle of freshly mixed milk replacer would be in a Biology lab with a doctor of Veterinary Medicine from West Africa, a young punk rocker kid with a genius for science, and an African American minister who writes papers like sermons. 

In America, it makes sense that we know how to enjoy fine Cuban cigars or imported beers, but also appreciate the fact that Bud Light is the king.  It makes sense that we can love Nascar or enjoy mud wrestling, or watch a ballet -- all in the same week.  And it makes sense that we can enjoy this diversity and appreciate the intercultural connections we have in our schools, our communities, and our country while celebrating the all-American traditions that make our nation so great.

I'm glad for people like my brother-in-law who make me realize that different is good.  While he may not have a complete appreciation for the gusto of Pavarotti, he is willing to step outside the norm of his cultural habits to embrace something new that will add flavor to his life.  And that is something we should all be willing to do.