Why Coca-Cola wins with ‘America is Beautiful’

Let me just say it out loud … I love this Coca-Cola commercial and the stance they take with its contents. 

I am American … but I came from somewhere, rather my family did.  I have a teeny tiny drop of Native American Indian in my DNA and the rest is German, Scottish, English, French and Irish that I know of. My ancestors spoke German, English, French and even Gaelic … and I suspect Old Norse.  

If you’ve read any of my blog, you know my family is mixed race … and not just because of Noodle. I have Hispanic cousins, and they speak Spanish and English. I have Asian cousins, too. Personally, I consider myself limited because I ONLY speak English.  My European friends speak 2, 3, and sometimes 4 languages … fluently.

I think it’s time we start remembering who built the nation we so lovingly call home.  America was built on the backs of immigrants … our ancestors … and many of those backs were broken by hard labor. While there are still pockets of purity among our Native American cultures, the rest of us have a far different heritage … one that originated somewhere else.  People so easily forget that … or maybe they don’t even know that.  

To call Coca-Cola’s commercial and other related videos anything but beautiful themselves is, as far as I’m concerned, un-American.  We should accept and celebrate our differences … it’s what makes us great. We should remember our heritage through language and food and culture and let Coca-Cola shout it from the rooftops if they want to.  It has less to do with whether you like Coke or Pepsi … I don’t drink either very often … and more to do with the company’s social stance. Kudos to them.   

This isn’t a new stance for the soft drink company either. Remember this one?   

Okay, so I wasn’t born yet … but I’ve seen it and variations of it repeatedly in my lifetime.

History determined what language we speak in America today.  Only by virtue of our British settlers do we even speak English … the “King’s language”, to boot … and we even have variations of that same language all across America.  Had history gone a different oceanic route, we’d be speaking Spanish or even some variation of Old Norse (Vikings!)  

America opened her arms centuries ago to welcome the world.  It should be no different today.

Now, I think I’ll go pour a can of Coke over my Cheerios.