Half-Breed

While reading Tripmaster Monkey, it occurred to me that perhaps this search for identity is more common than we care to talk about.  I must admit that I have never really struggled to place myself in society.  I’m a third generation American who grew up surrounded by both my mother’s parents, my father’s parents, and all of the aunts, uncles, cousins, and other extended family you can imagine.  I grew up in the Lutheran church like both my parents and grandparents did.  I know the stories about my family’s past, and our German ancestory is still very present in our holiday traditions.  There are very few mysteries about who I am, where I came from, or where I fit into society.  However, this is not everyone’s experience.  My own best friend is half korean and half caucasian.  She is constantly asked “What are you?” by people as if being of more than one race makes a person not human.  While trying to keep in touch with her asian ancestory, she must also balance the heritage of her caucasian half.  I was also reminded of the song “Half Breed” by Cher (yes, I’ve listened to Cher).  In this song she talks about how she never felt that she fit into society because she was half Native American and half European American.  It seems like the majority of people are “mixed” and struggle to strike a balance between their varying familial pasts.  Maybe this “hybrid” is actually more common but considered a hush-hush topic and therefore mistaken as the minority.