What is a Sprig?

I was born on March 16, 1988 at Rose Hospital in Denver, CO. I was two weeks over due and had trouble breathing but was quick to recover. In a nutshell, that story was an omen of the life to follow. I grew up on a ranch in Colorado then moved to a beach in beautiful La Jolla, then it was off to Spain where I stayed until I moved to San Francisco and then last summer to my true home in San Diego. These anecdotes are part of an explanation of what a Sprig is, and what a Sprig is, directly influences how I communicate and to whose culture I feel a part of.

Being born in Colorado gives me my most sacred cultural affiliation, I am an American citizen. Ever since I can first remember pride in my country and our customs has been instilled in me by my teachers, parents, siblings, media and a million other sources. Along with the national pride, I am proud to be a Caucasian of German, Scottish, French and Welsh decent. However you will never catch me calling myself a Caucasian American. The reason for this is, I don’t think an American should need to tell what their race is when describing their nationality.

America is so unique in its incredible diversity. It is diverse in terms of race, religion, sexual preferences, political groups and in many more ways. This diversity along with my immediate family helped to shape who I am and what I see as an American. My father is from an ultra-conservative family in Springfield IL and my mother is from a tiny town called Mankato in Minnesota. Combined, my parents raised my brother and I in a very strict and old fashion way. We were taught to open the door for a girl and to always eat properly along with the importance of honesty and good manners. However my parents were also very modern in the sense that they taught us to not see race but to see people of any color as they really are, people. Also we were never hushed but rather encouraged to voice our opinion and join in the “Big Kids” activities. This was instrumental in making me who I am today, and helping to give me a very out going personality and the resulting “low anxiety/uncertainty levels (Gudykunst & Kim, 2003) that help me communicate across cultural barriers. I have been proud to be an American my entire life. I cannot say there has ever been any significant change in that fact. However it is not hard to explain how I came to be so proud.

My greatest hero/role model has always been my Grandfather, Colonel Harper Charles Allan. I see him as a model American and a perfect snapshot of my view of ideal American culture and why I am proud of it. My grandfather was raised in the hell hole of the great depression and rose to be an American hero. He finished college only months after Pearl Harbor and foregoing his invitation to play professional baseball he joined the US Air force to help defend our freedom. He safely flew 12 different B-17 Superfortress over Germany 42 times and earned the distinguished flying cross. After marrying his OSS sweetheart he took over his father-in-laws insurance company and raised a family of 5. His children became CEO’s, Movie Directors and Entrepreneurs of the finest caliber. He stayed in the Airforce Reserve and retired a bird colonel. A republican, my grandfather was a great man and lived the American dream. If this story represents what it means to be an American, than I would rate my culture identification at a 9.

In terms of being able to identify with my ethnic group, impossible because I do not have one. Am I German because I have blond hair? Or maybe I am Scottish because my last name is Allan. Perhaps I could consider myself French because I like good cheese and wine. Maybe I should say I am a northerner because I am a decedent of Abraham Lincoln and Francis Scott Key? None of these are the right answer alone, because I am all of them combined. I am a classic American, a decedent from a dozen places but none to call mine. I don’t mind not having an ethnic group because it allows me to become a part of wherever I am. However when abroad or in another town/city/state I have to be careful and not let my very American communication style get me in trouble.

In America we tend to be loud, fast and rude as a part of life. When we feel life speaking our mind we are encouraged to do so regardless of whether it is good for other people too. This is a good example of what the authors mean when they say, “Most people in the United States have individualistic tendencies…”(Gudykunst & Kim, 2003, p. 54) Unfortunately in my opinion, America seems to be driven almost exclusively by money which leads to an almost Darwinian and individualistic style of culture. Although I am not proud of this part of our culture, we are all forced to play along with it or face a very bleak future while others take the opportunities. Another byproduct of this is Americans tendencies to keep their personal ‘bubble.’ Americans tend to keep everyone at an arms distance and hesitate to even sit right next to someone on the bus or in a movie theater.

To put it as Woodrow Wilson did, “Sometimes people call me an idealist.  Well, that is the way I know I am an American.  America is the only idealistic nation in the world.” I am an American to the core but that does not mean I look down on other cultures. To finalize my cultural explanation I use the immortal words of James Bryce, “Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance.  It is also owed to justice and to humanity.  Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong”

Growing up in a society that seems to be solely focused in education upon the teaching of science and mathematics this quote strikes a sensitive chord.  Ever since I wrote a paper on the importance of history in the 10th grade I have been an adamant voice for teaching history in public education at the grade school, middle school and high school levels.  The reason that I think that history is so important is encompassed in the prompt which by the way is a quote from Jacques Barzun’s book called, The Culture We Deserve.
My favorite part of the quote is this, “Not that studying history imparts formulas and recipes; it develops connoisseurship in human affairs, the intuition of what is likely and what is important.”  Barzun is simply but sophisticatedly saying that although one cannot tell the future by studying history they can more easily decode what is currently happening, what’s going to happen next and also are able to watch for certain historically repeated warning signs or indications of opportunities.  For instance if Hitler had been more of a student of history he might of won WWII by not trying to invade Russia with only 3 months to winter… DUH!  Another great example is the economy, for instance if someone in power had studied Americas historical spending trends and were able to find some indications of the exorbitant spending and lending in the 1920’s and what that led too they would of possible been able to see the current recession before it hit.  Also the fact that we are trying to “win” in the conventional sense in Afghanistan is a joke.  If Bush or Obama just got on the phone with the British or Russians and asked them about how their attempts went to tame Afghanistan we might learn from their mistakes and not make the EXACT same ones.
Although there was only room for these three examples I could of continued on for another couple pages solely on political and military mistakes that keep happening through out history.  History tends to repeat itself if the same mistakes are made and I do not believe our society or education system put nearly enough importance on the study and understanding of both national and international history.  With out a thorough grasp of where we come from how can we possibly hope to appreciate what we have or to plan for tomorrow.

I cannot tell you how much those words mean. I had been planning to write an article about this ever since I was watching Fox news and heard Cindy Sheehan say that our soldiers died in vain. However the left is not the only people guilty of having this misconception. As Kathy Roth-Douquet says in the USA Today, “President Bush wants to stay the course in Iraq so that those who have died there will not have ‘died in vain.’ Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan urges to pull out immediately to prevent more Americans from dying in vain.”
Why does a person become a soldier? Are they conscripted, are they forced by their government? No they choose to be soldiers. They may choose because of a need but most choose to become soldiers because they believe in our country and want to serve it. There are many things that can be bought in life but the title of serving in the armed forces is invaluable. These men and women volunteer their lives knowing that tomorrow they may die.
Facing this information how do we thank these men and woman? We thank them by calling their ultimate sacrifice an act in futility and in vain. No matter the circumstances or the causes for their death a soldier never dies in vain. We may lose the battle or the war but the soldiers who lost their lives during the struggle believed in us the american people and died for us and therefore I personally believe their is no way in hell that could be considered ‘in vain.’