"America is a mongrel nation built of ever-changing disparate parts, it is held together by a notion that all men are created equal, though everyone knows that most men consider themselves better than someone." Quindlen says the idea of America, the idea that all men are created equal and that we are united as one, is improbable. Improbable, by definition, means 'not likely to be true or to happen'. This is certainly the case seeing as we say "all men are created equal" yet we're not always treated as equals. I agree with Quindlen, the idea that everyone, no matter their culture, ethnicity, skin color, religion, and sexual preference can be treated as equals would be amazing if this was true but unfortunately, it's not. I believe most of this is due to what people think is 'normal' and what's accepted in society today. .
"What is the point of a nation in which one part seems to be always on the verge of fisticuffs with another, blacks and whites, gays and straights, left and right, Pole and Chinese and Puerto Rican and Slovenian? Other countries with such divisions have in fact divided into new nations with new names, but not this one, impossibly interwoven even in its hostilities". In this paragraph Quindlen uses gays and straights as an example. Recently LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people have gained the right that they should have had already as a human, to marry in all 50 states, like straights. The LGBT may have the right to marry but they don't have all of the same rights straights do. According to federal law, "LGBTs are not protected against workplace discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in the private sector". There are also only 16 states that 100% allow LGBT joint adoption. Those are only two examples of the prejudice against LGBTs. The US is so hostile and stubborn in their beliefs of what is 'normal' that LGBT people are more targeted for violent hate crimes than any other minority in the US.