I grew up as a Chinese-American in Southern California. There are already numerous articles about identity as immigrant Americans and it would be trite to talk about that. What is fascinating to me is that modern society has allowed relatively free travel among countries. It's never been easier to live and work in Spain, China, or South Africa. The most talented people will gravitate towards the places that they can best exploit their talents - bankers in New York or London, software engineers in Silicon Valley/SF, entertainers in Los Angeles. The notion of your identity is now less about your nationality and more about what you can do. We find identity at the smallest common denominator that's still large enough to retain that sense of community. I am more of a product manager than an American. Unfortunately, this is isolated to the very fortunate who have the skills in demand around the world.

For those who were never trained to do so, their identity is even more tied to the land they are born and raised. I worry that as the world passes around them, they dig in to their beliefs because we stop listening to what they have to say. I hope to be proven wrong.