American Culture: The First Game Essay, Research Paper
First Game
American culture is in my opinion a mixture of all cultures in the world. In some states, minorities have become majorities because of the huge masses that have immigrated there. Those groups have integrated their own customs to Americans and at the same time, have made American customs part of their lives. In that enormous alloy called Americans, you can meet diverse kinds of persons, languages, foods and words. At the same time, specific traits make this culture as any other unique. The British writer Lesley Hazleton describes in the essay The First Game her experience when she attended a baseball game for the first time in her life. It was her first time visiting America as well and the way the scene is described shows in some way her perception of what Americans are. Among their several qualities, she distinguished the idolization of achievers and their lives based on a theocentric society.
In the essay The First Game the writer mentioned that the particular day she attended the baseball game, had been declared Catfish Hunter day, in honor to the famous New York baseball player who was retiring that day. Everybody was cheering and seemed happy because of all that he had accomplished in the baseball field. Perchance, that description displays Americans as people who praise others. They glorify their heroes and citizens who have achieved important things like movie stars, athletes, politicians, scientists and astronauts. Almost anyone who accomplish something magnificent can become famous in America. There are awards for actors, writers, beauty contestants, scientists and many others in all professional and entertainment fields. Although many people are honored because of their tasks, others accomplish a lot and do not receive any credits at all. It does not mean that it is done on purpose or that they do not deserve any prize. Perhaps it is that Americans are used to praise those who have been praised before or maybe it is just a matter of chance for a selected group of lucky people, like TV stars and singers. The fact that there exist so many awards for a certain group of people, and at the same time, some other groups pass unnoticed their entire lives, makes evident traits of the American culture. The author hypothesized hero-worships as an American habit, although not everybody might agree with that thought.
Hazleton was perplexed by a phrase affirmed by the acclaimed baseball player thanking various people in his speech, and specifically thanking God for making him a ball player. That phrase manifested in the author’s opinion what a particular being God represents in the American ball player’s life. Those words made the author picture America as a culture devoted to God, or at least a superior being. Of course, not everybody is as religious as he made evident when speaking in his speech. Some people do not mention God at all and never go to church, while others have different ways of expressing their spirituality. Every coin of The United States of America says, “In God we trust,” yet there are thousands of different religions in those United States. There are communes, sects, and temples of every type. In addition, some days are religious in itself, like Thanksgiving Day when people make a stop in their lives to just thank God for all they have. In addition, many people see Saturday or Sunday as the day to go to the synagogue or the church. At the same time, a percent of people have never had any kind of religious formation, and see weekend days as mere resting days of the week. Overall, I believe that Americans have many kinds of beliefs and that it does not matter what it is that they believe in, it fulfills a very significant part of their lives. The mixture of cultures influence the diverse types of religions seen in the United States and that same union is what makes American culture a particular one, devoted in my opinion to a Supreme Being, but diverse in the way spirituality is practiced.
It would be impossible to recreate with few traits what an American is because of the complexity of a culture. Most of Americans can be something, but it does not mean that all Americans are constituent of that same description. It is not fair to generalize when talking about a culture because even if it is not the intention, we can be prejudging a whole country by the actions of few. Anyhow, I do believe that Americans, in the most, show characteristics like their beliefs in a greater being and the praise of others, which make them unique and different. As in any other culture, some people do not care about religion or spirituality and do not even know who are the people that receive honors. In the same way that we cannot talk simplistic, we cannot refer either to a culture too specifically. Anywise, I have described what I think was the perception of the author when she went to a baseball game and had contact with American culture in American ground for the first time in her life.