LOS ALAMITOS, CA — On Wednesday, Oct. 12, Navy Lieutenant Commander Jay Chen gave a speech to our school’s Asian Culture club about Taiwanese culture on campus. Beyond this, he also had an important message about life and how our youth could become more involved in our society. 

Lt. Chen discussed his background as a first generation citizen from an immigrant family; his parents came to America seeking economic and educational opportunities. His parents’ patriotism inspired him to serve in the navy. 

While training and serving in the US Navy, Lt. Chen worked with Americans of varying ethnic and national origins. In spite of their different backgrounds, Chen said that one thing helped bind them together. During their service, they engaged in challenges that involved a lot of teamwork. While people of political, racial, or geographical differences may be reluctant to talk to each other in a normal environment, collaborating on these challenges together inspire a plethora of Americans to work side by side.

Chen stated that if the youth of America wishes to become more cooperative, they must endure challenges together.

“Military should be required,” he said. However, these sets of challenges do not need to be military service. It could be anything from community service, studying, or simply cooperating on everyday things. 

The reason why Chen wants our youth to become more eager to work with one another is because of his experiences while traveling abroad. He noticed that patriots from other countries do not fly our flag as often as Americans do. Americans seem to display the flag more often because of one particular reason. Because of how diverse our backgrounds and personal opinions are, many Americans do not feel a sense of familiarity when interacting with their countrymen. As a result, many Americans have flags in order to feel a sense of home as they are surrounded by people they do not feel close to. In Southern California alone, our community is so diverse that no ethnic group makes up a solid majority of our demographic. Therefore, completing service or even community activities with Americans of different cultural background tears down the wall that makes us reluctant to talk to one another. This allows a sense of home that could be built in each American, whether or not the people in our school, workplace, or neighborhood are of a different background. 

“I’m appreciative,” club member Ally Hatakeyama said “to have been able to listen to his thoughts and advice on stepping up as an Asian American leader in today’s society and braving the world with an open mind.”

These life lessons during the meeting pertain to the initiative of Asian Culture Club. America is an extremely diverse place, and in California especially, there is a large amount of Asian Americans. Furthermore, Asia itself is even more diverse than we think, with many cultures being completely different from the other. Therefore, the club’s initiative is to help both Asian and non-Asian Americans familiarize themselves with the diverse set of traditions we see in our communities. By going through community service, or even simple conversations, the barrier of unfamiliarity is torn down, offering a sense of home to our students.