If there was a third grade book showing us the ethnicity or race of an American, the subject would probably take at least a chapter. Americans come in all sorts of flavors. And flavors is the term I’d prefer to use because as we might have observed in malls, in cars that stop next to us at traffic lights, on campus, being American is not a question of specificity.

I doubt there could exist a way of keeping track of the nation’s heritage. America’s people are the world’s people. This is the place where undoubtedly Edwards James Olmos’ words come to life in its utmost expression: “We are the human race.”

America is a bowl of soup in which an immense richness of flavors from all around the world reunite. Thousands of Americans died last week in an horrible attempt to dislocate our way of life. People from many different countries died there as well. President Bush’s comments in one of his announcements during the weekend when he said, “We are the best,” is highly motivational, still it balances on the verge of ethnocentricity.

Human beings are the best and the worst at any specific moment depending on what moves them. Nationality doesn’t matter in this respect. I understand he should exercise some caution when proffering statements that might result in a misinterpretation of what America is all about.

Three days after the attacks a celebration should have resumed. The Hispanic Heritage Month started this year in Iowa State quietly and respectfully. We understood the circumstances did not favor parties, but we still had the responsibility to go on with our plan, to gain awareness of our existence and our history in this nation.

This year’s slogan recognizes the Next Generation. It is certainly not an effort to turn us into another bad Pepsi commercial. It originates from the need to recognize, not only the passage of our heritage to a whole new group of Americans that will carry it on, but it is a way of proclaiming that Latino heritage in the United States is undisputable and historic. It is not only a recent fashion. The contribution of Latinos to the country’s fabric is there to be seen not only in the valleys of California but in the small towns of Iowa as well.

As Doctor H‚ctor Avalos, an ISU professor and a renown academic, said in his inaugural speech, Latinos are not here to take from the resources of the country and the people. We come here to give from ourselves, to help push the wheels of development, to garnish the growth of the crops, and create a new perspective of life. A new vision that, as time passes by, enriches the soup with its unique flavor.

The 2000 Census results showed that Latinos have become the largest minority in this country. Still, the issues that pertain to this minority are frequently overseen by the U.S. mainstream media.

As is obviously happening with the media’s coverage of the WTC case, the issues and logics of minorities are not put in their proper perspective.

Now is the time for understanding; it is a time where our logics should overcome our passions. My Arab friends have shown me a beautiful message. They have taught me the words in the Quaran. “Take a look at this message from God. His mercy and wisdom shall open the minds of those who, by using violence, have betrayed the purpose of Islam itself.”

Many different people live their lives for this country. We struggle together to maintain our way of life. We should not disrupt it. We will keep going, recognizing our differences, but, at the same time, acknowledging what makes us one. I think that is the only way to keep the soup savory, fresh, still with a certain kick to it.

Zayira Jordan is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Halo Rey, Puerto Rico.