America has often been lauded as a great melting pot of cultures, likely a result of accepting the poor and the oppressed of the world. All were welcome to come and become American, via a melting, merging cultural process.

But has it happened? Has there emerged a consistent single culture? Selective sound bites may make it seem so. “Leave It to Beaver” was a bit before my time; I understand it was about typical American lives. As was the Andy Griffith show with Aunt Bea — that one I remember. And yet, that wasn’t the life of all people on this continent. Was it even the life of the majority?

My guess is that there has been a polished image of an ideal American family that maybe is a reality for roughly a fourth of the country — the white, middle-class portion. There was also a lower-income white class that saw a different world. And what about the colors of our country — could the Black population find commonality with this ideal? The Latinos? The tribal nations? The Asians? Muslims? Jews?

Instead of melting, these Beaver-less Americans formed their own cultural centers. Chinatown, Little Italy, Swedish communities, and kosher neighborhoods kept the wide diversity of different cultures flourishing instead of disappearing into uniformity. Even if one didn’t live near others from their ancestral nation, cultural traditions persisted with family and holiday celebrations.

Perhaps the American norm has shifted over time instead of melting together. Sometimes I see the country as a very slowly maturing child. This helpless newborn child was taught survival skills by the peoples of this land. The contrary2-year-old country fought the British to get its way. The Tom Sawyer youth explored the far reaches of the country. These youth also had sibling squabbles — serious ones over whose land was whose. Even the later pre-teen years of playing dress up and having teas and oh so elegant parties resembled the Victorian and the turn of the century blindness to others’ realities. Perhaps there was more uniformity of culture in these early years — but I suspect not. Our monocle for looking into the past is woefully insufficient.

If there was a time of greater melded unity, it was during the great war years when unity was necessary. Different cultures brought their strengths, dedication and talents to defend this land. Navajo code breakers, Black women mail handlers and, though they were often segregated, there were many different colored hands that fought on land, sea and sky for America.

A quick side note. Tribal nations fought with Americans, but as a different culture and sovereign nation, they did so with a different purpose. They were there to protect Mother Earth. Protecting the nation and the earth worked well together, though, enough to form a temporary unity of resistance and defense.

However, that lesson was missed and forgotten. Instead, it was after these war years that the Beavers and Beas became the epitome of what society should be. When those stereotypes didn’t fit, then came the teenage years. This identity-searching time came with questions: Why not? How come? Why?

Sound familiar? Finding the Hollywood American dream not their reality, people went back to their roots to find what was their dream. Others looked to their past traditions and found those no longer rang true for them. And some adventurous souls forged new paths and patterns.

This was adolescence — a day of looking, examining, seeking, choosing, exploring n’ centering essences. It brought protests, riots, rebellions and a general relook at hair length, skirt heights and all kinds of moral standards. It was a time of seeing uniqueness as acceptable and maybe even desirable.

Are we out of those teen years as a nation? Perhaps yes. We have generally moved into the throes of young adulthood and begun embracing ambition fueled by book learning (internet knowledge), hard work that teaches life’s real lessons (but can also breed cynicism and resentment) and, of course, the old-fashioned greed to tromp over others to get ahead. Again, there are many approaches to adulthood, even a path of gracefully growing up.

Isn’t that my point? Where is this melting pot? Instead, we are a diverse group of neighbors growing up together, not Stepford Wives, husbands or offspring.

I suspect the desire for a melted-together culture was a desire for unity that would bring strength. Ever hear that a divided house will fall? Could they have mistaken uniformity as unity and equated divided loyalties with diversity of culture? Thus, a new unified culture was considered the best way to be strong. But is that true?

If everyone in a neighborhood was a plumber, what happens when the wind tears off some roofs? Uniformity isn’t going to help them. But if there are plumbers, carpenters, electricians, cooks, gardeners and musicians, or artists, then the neighborhood will remain warm, dry, fed and happily entertained. They can unitedly supported each other through their diverse talents.

Diversity has also been a threat to dictators or conquering nations. They see these cultural differences as a visual reminder of the conquered’s identity and fear it can bring resistance to their rule. Seeking to break the people’s spirit and inner sources of strength, they have enforced a melting pot policy. Locally, this meant any Indian child speaking the Shoshone or Bannock languages was taken away from their homes and mistreated at a boarding school until they learned to adopt the American culture instead of their own. However, this forced melting pot approach only created simmering resentment and anger, not lasting strength for the ruler.

The historical evidence seems to discredit the melting pot concept as an inevitable or desirable process in order to have a strong nation. It is a myth — and I vote for selling the useless pot at the next United Nations’ yard sale.

Meanwhile, the World War years taught us the real secret to a nation’s strength. The key is to allow diversity while finding a unifying core. Now, as we collectively move into a family/career commitment stage of growth, our pledge of allegiance to each other can also shift to being a more mature, “one nation, diverse and unified, with liberty and justice for all.”