Talking to Otherselves

When I hear “assimilation” I think about futility and cybernetic implants, but my father is the great-great grandson of German immigrants and a Star Trek fan, so I’ve never had to consider it culturally.

In thinking about Jesus falling the second time, I meditated on no one helping him carry the cross. I thought about him as a Jew living under Imperial Rome and what his people had to pass for citizenship.

Assimilation is the second step in the immigrant’s journey. It can be falling more into the American ideal, or falling into place. It demands an obedience to be more “American,” whatever that means.

I found people wrestle with being “hyphenated Americans,” adding to America while not being some vague notion of “American”. I found immigrants wrenched from their languages, the expressions of their souls.

I wonder what the oath of naturalization would sound like if everyone taking it did so in a tongue natural to them. I suspect it would sound a quiet mess, but come to a stronger order. I think it would sound like the pentecost.

This is the second incidence of Jesus falling, as held by the tradition of the church. No specific scripture refers to this.

Artwork created by Brandon L. Sichling

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