Puritans, Salem, Nathaniel Hawthorn. All 3 in 1.

         Salem is present-day Denver and it's located near the coast of Massachusetts. During the 16th and 17th century, a group of Protestants known as Puritans at the time situated in this small town. According to the people at that time, this town is called either Salem town or Salem village. Although this is a small town, many important events had occurred such as  the Salem witch trials of 1692 which had about 200 people accused of witchcraft, 24 deaths in the hangings plus many others that had died in prison. When these trials were occurring, the people were in a frenzied state because they're very paranoid that the Devil is among them and he should be rooted out no matter what the cost is. 24 out of those who were accused were hanged at a place known as Gallows Hill and a man named Giles Corey was killed by heavy stones placed on top of him because he didn't confess to practicing witchcraft. Eventually after the pleas of Cotton Mather and Governor Phipps's own wife being accused, the trials ended and those who were accused were released. Also money was given to the heirs of those that died and the innocents were given their good names back. That still wasn't enough to repay those that had suffered in this tragedy and surprisingly it wasn't until 1957 that Massachusetts apologize for this event. Now people might be wondering, how come they waited such a long time to apologize?

             The people of Salem at the time were known as the Puritans as stated in the previous paragraph but what you may not know about these people is that they follow the teachings of John Calvin and tries to root out all parts of Catholic influence from their lives. Also their beliefs were mostly based on Doctrines of Grace written by James Arminius who was a follower of John Calvin. Basically in their minds, one sin condemns you to Hell because Adam and Eve committed the sin of eating from the tree of knowledge so humans as their descendants have to live a life of moral perfection in order to atone for the sins by their predecessors. Also they established a government based on the idea of theocracy so moral imperfection was considered a crime such that if you committed adultery or "believed" to be a follower of the Devil, you should be executed. That's what brought about the tragic Salem witch trials that had taken away the lives of many who were believed to be witches or more explicitly as followers of the Devil.

             Well now, let's get back to the present and talk about how the Puritans views of the 16th and 17th century have on present-day America. Nathaniel Hawthorn, a relative of John Hawthorn who was one of the judges that had convicted many people during the Salem witch trials as witches wrote a book known as The Scarlet Letter which depicts Hester Prynn being punished by society due to adultery. The punishment she received wasn't comparable to how Mary Latham and James Britton who were hanged because of adultery in Massachusetts. Even if the laws today doesn't hang people for adultery, I still think it's unnecessary for adulterers to be punished by the law. If marriage is a sacred bond between two people as influenced by Puritan thoughts, shouldn't it be their business to take care of their relationship instead of having the public be involved in a private matter which doesn't even resolve the couple's problem at all? Why should other people besides the couple need to know about the affair anyway? Laws should only be used to punish those whose actions undermine the idea of an ideal society such as murder instead of adultery. Overall many other laws and views of the people in America had been influenced by the Puritans views from the past such as murder and giving false testimony being a crime that's morally wrong but adultery as stressed before isn't a crime worthy of punishment by the public.
   

When did I become an American? Now that's a good question to think about....

Well first let’s define what an American in my opinion is. In the history books, the Native Americans were originally the people of this land but when the Europeans immigrated here, they imposed claims upon the land of these native people. As a result, the natives were forced to live on tiny strips of land known as reservations while the many Europeans own the land and spread their influences over this entire continent. When the Europeans immigrate to North America, they had left behind their cultures and traditions but not the ones that they liked such as being faithful to the church. In present-day America, the immigrants don’t necessarily leave behind any of their cultures or traditions but instead incorporate their practices and ideas into American society. Then as more immigrants come to the U.S, there would be less distinct features that separate Americans from Asians, Africans or people of other races because ideas from those countries are being spread throughout America. If that is true, then the only important characteristic of an American is his/her participation in a democratic government.

                In order to participate in a democratic government such as by voting, I would have to become a U.S citizen. Basically I’m not a U.S citizen yet so I wouldn’t be able to vote. Also besides from voting, I haven't participate in any events relating to the government so I don’t think I became an American yet. If I were to become a U.S citizen and vote in the future or participate in the government such as getting supporters for a law that had not been passed, then I would become an American. For now, I still a Chinese citizen who immigrated to the U.S and waiting to obtain my U.S citizenship.

It's Us or Them! Really?

                In this reality, there are many conflicts that result in death because one side can always dealt a fatal blow to the other side so one side have to act fast in order to guarantee their survival. A book series that I had read in the past known as the “Ender’s Game series” depicts how an alien species known as the buggers had invaded earth twice and failed but humans thought they were going to do it again. Due to their advanced technological abilities and their hostility toward humans seen in the first two wars, the humans decided to train an elite team of military geniuses to counter their future invasions and utterly destroy their race. Eventually a young child genius by the name of Andrew Wiggin or more commonly known as Ender the Xenocide used a molecular disruption device to destroy the bugger’s home planet and almost wiped out their entire race.       

             
               Although the buggers wanted the forgiveness of the humans after the first two wars, the humans didn’t understand their intentions so they were destroyed. This first book is the time when Ender committed Xenocide because the story that was told to him about the buggers was dominantly one sided so he was somewhat forced to perform the monstrous sin. For the sake of the human race and his sister Valentine that he wanted to protect, he was forced to make that decision because it’s either Us or Them. To Ender at that moment, he was only focused on destroyed the buggers so he participated in war simulations to practice for the oncoming war but at the end, he finally realized that the battles were real and he really had wiped out almost the entire specie.

            
              Later, he finally came to understand that the true intentions of the buggers and why they intentionally stationed all their queens (overminds) at their home planet to be destroyed together. Although their once glorious civilization was wiped out, he thought about the decisions that he made and he would make those decisions if he was given a second chance because the circumstances made it impossible for him to not choose to protect his own “people”.    

           
             Even though this is a science fiction novel, it still depicts a possible circumstance where people have to decide if they’re the one to survive or die. Most of the time, people are given one-sided reasons for supporting the conflict so people will fight for that cause without questioning it. Also more frequently, these conflicts results in large pockets of people dying but if negotiation was possible, then the deaths could had been prevented and that could only happen if the leaders wanted peace. Now that leads to the point where the leaders are the roots to the conflicts and if they could have solved their ongoing problems between themselves, then there wouldn’t be a reason for people to make decisions like “it’s Us or Them”.