I’m a Welsh-born American citizen.  Not everyone is comfortable welcoming strangers.  Our current world is full of real and imagined dangers.  It becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish good from bad.

But, not to keep an open mind and an open heart makes us all poorer for not taking the risk of engaging with strangers or people with whom we are unfamiliar.

In a recent conversation with two young refugee teenagers, I asked them if they had any American friends or had ever been invited to an American home.

They both answered no.

So, how do we engage with and welcome strangers and make them feel at home here in the United States?  Are we really a melting pot or simply a gathering of ethnic groups bound by laws and the American constitution?

Crossing cultural barriers is both challenging and exciting and clearly needs to be done if everyone in this nation is to go forward in the spirit of peace, trust, and unity.  So, think about how you could make a difference to your life as well as somebody else’s by reaching out.  In doing so you will make this nation more of a melting pot, more inclusive, and less suspicious of people regarded as the “others” in our midst.

 

— Nerys Levy

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