Let's see.my ancestors came from Wales so I could be a Welch-American. Of course other ancestors came from France so I could be a French-American. But then again I have ancestors that came from England , Ireland and Germany too. So that would make me a Welch-French-English-Irish-German-American, right?

I remember hearing stories from my grand parents and great-grand parents that America was a huge melting pot; that people from different countries all over the world came to the United States to become Americans and live their own version of the American Dream.

Yet for some reason we're beginning to regress - instead of identifying ourselves simply as Americans some in our society feel the need to overstate the obvious and hyphenate their Americanism to make sure that everyone knows where their ancestors came from. I don't need a fancy hyphenated title to tell me that a black man has ancestors that came from Africa or that an Asian looking man has ancestors that came from Asia.

I can see it now - I'm going to get a ton of hate-mail from people calling me insensitive to the plight of minorities in America blah blah blah. If they're truly concerned about being sensitive to minorities, why don't they cry out in rage because my driver's license lists me as a "Caucasian" instead of a Welch-French-English-Irish-German-American? There certainly aren't enough Welch-French-English-Irish-German-Americans to constitute a majority of the American population. But alas, nobody is thinking of me or my fellow Welch-French-English-Irish-German-Americans.

The truth is that it doesn't matter to me what color a person's skin is, what language he or she originally spoke or where his or her ancestors came from. What matters to me is that the person is a fellow American, that he believes in American values, the rights of Americans, the American governmental structure and the American Dream and that he will be willing to defend America with his life. THAT is what being an American is. THAT is the important part; it shouldn't be the "after hyphen" afterthought.

The ONLY possible reason I can come up with for continuing to use hyphenated American titles is for identification purposes. For example, looking for an 80 year old Asian-American that has wandered away from a care facility narrows down the field substantially than if we were simply looking for an 80 year old. Likewise, looking for a 30 year old African-American that is off his or her medication and is suicidal is easier than simply looking for a 30 year old.

One interesting issue in the hyphenated American issue is the lack of consideration for whites. For example it is acceptable for someone to call a Caucasian "white" but if someone calls an Asian "yellow" or a Native-American "red" or even an African-American "black" there is hell to pay.

Even looking at the evolution of what society calls what we now label as African Americans is interesting. At first it was "Negro", then it was shortened to a word I won't mention, then "colored," then "black" and now "African-American." Why? What was wrong with Negro (taken from the Latin Niger meaning "black")?

Another question (maybe one of you can answer this for me) - are there American-Chinese in China ? Are there African-Koreans? English-Africans? American-English? From what I've heard hyphenation is a strictly American fetish thanks in part to Malcolm X who started it all by referring to blacks as African-American back in 1960.

I say if you're so hung up on where your ancestors came from that you have to hyphenate your Americanism, go back to where your ancestors came from. When you're ready to be a plain and simple American, give us a call - we'll gladly welcome you back.