I'm an immigrant

And when I say I'm an immigrant I mean I moved.
I don't mean I hate my home country, my language, my name,  my accent, my history, my traditions, my pride.
I didn't intend or and I have not signed a contract saying that I would leave any of the above behind (in my heart) in order to embrace those of my new country instead.
The first immigrants to this country didn't leave their traditions behind, did they? I'm talking about the Mayflower pilgrims.

Their home country was evil to them. Their home country had become dangerous to them. They fled  because they saw no other way out. They had to leave the only place they loved, because that place had become hostile to them.

However, you can take the person out of his land, but you can't take the land out of the person. They came and they brought their country with them.

They named their new country New England, New York, New Jersey, New Britain. They brought their religion, their games, their clothes, their tradition, their history. They even kept their names, instead of adapting them to the local native languages.

They learned new things from the native people, but they didn't leave their culture behind.
And that was okay. Right? We honor those men today.


So why would you, child of those first immigrants, expect us, the new immigrants, to hate or want to do away with our culture? Our language, our accent, our history, our food, our traditions, and even  change our name?

As much as our country might have pushed us away, nothing it did will necessarily make us leave what we are behind, or make us stop loving it.

Why can't we, the new immigrants, simply add to our culture the culture of our new land? And add to the culture of our new land our culture? Why would you expect us to replace one for the other?

Are you jealous because you think you only have one?