Carol has enjoyed friendship with people from other backgrounds from when she played dodgeball with the first black-haired kid in her all white grade school. She’s lent her ear to folks from Mexico, El Salvador, Taiwan, Japan, China, France, India, Kenya, France, Greece, Italy and more. They in turn have tutored her in making ikebana, French mousse, Taiwanese sesame-fried green beans or green beans with coconut, Indian style. They’ve taught her to flex, speak with sensitivity or to create alternatives—how do you eat yogurt when you don’t have any utensils. They help her to surmount mental ruts. She’s made gaffes, and apologized—turnarounds needed. Blatantly clear: how much immigrants and their offspring have enriched her life.

Somehow I couldn’t write the above in the first person—it felt over-bearing.

Part of it all is knowing of I’m wanted. As one friend told me, “Not many ( spend Americans time with us”—sad and shameful. And as a friend of Japanese descent told me, “I’ll always remember how you spent time with me on that Japan trip when no one else did.” I hope my writing helps with spanning differences and motivates people to find our human commonalities. Why travel across the world when the world has come to American shores? Take time to learn and enjoy those of the culture you weren’t born in.