The past few days have taken me to various places, such as the bosque popular (a sprawling park), Villamaria (a colorful town just south of Manizales), and Ecoparque Los Yarumos (an environmentally-centered museum and eco-park).

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Over the last few weeks, I have been continually struck by the people here. It’s like I’m part of a new family of people I haven’t met yet. Colombians seem to focus much more on the collective than the individual.

One conversation I had in my Spanish class really got the wheels turning in my United Statesian (this is a word in Spanish–“estadounidense”) head. In Colombia, children are taught that there are five continents. In these schools, North and South America do not exist–there is only America. How different this is from where I grew up, where an imaginary line has been drawn between north and south. True, there is a canal, but we built it.

Why divide America in two? I suppose the theory is that an isthmus is barely land at all so we may as well deem it an ocean. Or perhaps cultural differences warrant the divide. But cultural differences don’t warrant a divide of other continents. The people of Egypt are distinct from those of Zimbabwe but they’re all Africans. Why should North Americans purposefully separate themselves from those in South America? My suspicion is that it has to do with a feeling of superiority. North America is more powerful, richer, and therefore better than South America. In fact, the United States is so much more powerful that its citizens have taken the word “American” for ourselves. We don’t even have a word in English to describe someone “United Statesian.” Boo. I don’t like it.

I have no desire to go on a rant bashing the country that has given me so much. I love the United States (if not it’s current leadership). That being said, I think the separateness that many United Statesians create for themselves is ill-conceived. We are not a “shining city on a hill” that is unequivocally superior to and distinct from all others. The United States is a nation with great achievements, great history, and great problems, just like every other country. Instead of trying to separate ourselves from others, we should be working to unify. We are all different, but we all have similar goals, passions, and struggles. The people in Colombia are not a distinct species from those in the United States. They’re just as American. Let’s try to focus on that which brings us together, not that which sets us apart. We’re all in this together.