The census bureau makes no sense in creating a definition of a “traditional family.” The United States is inhabited by many different people who come from all parts of the world. There is no way that everyone will have a traditional family and there is no reason for anyone to feel badly about that.

Messiness is evidently based on individual perception. A mess is defined as a state of embarrassing confusion; however, it is also defined as a person or thing that is dirty or untidy. If a person believes, for example, their room isn’t messy because everything is organized or they know the position of everything, then to them, their room isn’t messy. However, someone else may perceive the room to be messy because they’re unfamiliar with the where about of things and in addition, it isn’t their personal space. Messy does indeed have a universal definition but a mess is a state of mind. Mess is based on personal acuity and one’s ability to feel comfortable in a certain place. If I’m comfortable with having papers all over the bed and clothes on the floor, then my room isn’t a mess; however, to me it’s perfect and fine the way it is.

What does the Census Bureau define a tradition American family as? America is an enormous melting pot, residence to ethnicities and races from all corners of the Earth. The United States is an escape to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, distinct from other countries totalitarian, controlling and propaganda rid governments. Thus, with the influx of different cultures and interracial marriages, traditions are no longer traditional. The belief in a traditional American family does not exist. America is defined by the numerous amounts of immigrants that migrated to this country. There is no such thing as an American. Everyone one who lives in the United States can be traced to some foreign nation. The United States of America should be renamed to the United Nation. So when someone asks you what the traditional American family is like, your response should be, it varies because America is not a nation of Americans but immigrant; being American is only a title.

I like that people want to remove the sexism, racism and prejudices in our vocabulary because words are very powerful, but it’s being too overdone. Instead of picking at the tiny details of some of these words, people need to look at the bigger picture. Physical change is sometimes stronger than verbal change. If people physically see the changes in society than it will probably have a bigger impact. Changing the vocabulary has good intentions, but I don’t think it’s the most important thing right now.

This essay is exactly how I picture a classification essay to be written. Hollander had a very good structure when he brought up the different points he made. He also included his own opinion about “mess” without turning it into a rant. I like how he defined “mess” as well. The way each person sees a “mess” depends on the way they perceive it. My room always looks somewhat clean to me, but my mom thinks its disgusting all of the time. I also liked how Hollander included the historical definition of “mess”. Its funny how “mess” was an amount of food and now its been turned into both a literal and mental definition.