Saturday, June 2, 2012

What is American?


What is American?

As you embark on this great and beautiful land, I want to welcome you. Welcome you to a land of dreams come true, and dreams that are yet to be realized. This is a land of opportunity that many that have come before you have sought out. What does it mean to be American? To say what is American, I say American is a culture of many, and a culture of freedom.  I also say, an American is someone who is free to be who they want to be, and to me, that is the beauty of Liberty. There is not necessarily a mold or model of an American, because there is so much diversity in this great country.  Just as Hector St. John Crevecoeur said to those just like you,  a new American, “The next wish of this traveler will be to know whence came all these people? They are mixture of English, Scotch, Irish, French, Dutch, Germans, and Swedes. From this promiscuous breed, that race now called Americans have arisen”. What is even more spectacular in truth today is that out of a population of approximately 282 million people, 31 million are foreign born. This is the beauty of our country that continues to add to the richness that is a great blend of many cultures. Each piece adds something beautiful, enriching the lives of all of us who live here. Furthermore, not only are there European descendants as many of the first settlers were, now, all races and nationalities are represented in the American population. To say what is American is not as easily defined because our roots are global.

That being said, there are some things that could be defined as strictly American. A native, for example are the first people that ever lived on this continent, embracing its lands and appreciating its natural beauty, living among the land as if they were part of it instead of developing it. Things that have been born out of our American culture are things like baseball and hotdogs, Fourth of July celebrations, and one of my favorites, Rock and Roll music. America is also the rolling hills and plains of Kansas, where cattle graze happily and farmers cultivate the land that feeds their own families and the families of all. America is the young Appalachian Mountains to the rugged Rocky Mountains. America is the great cities of New York, filled with businessmen with hearts for the economy, and Mid-west cities like St. Louis, that captures your eye with its Arch that represents the gateway to the West that so many lost their lives in determination of this great discovery. America is the California hills where many sought the promise of gold and prosperity. In such a short time, we have created a beautiful country where you can climb skyscrapers and peer out a window in a high rise and take in the sight of the workings of a city, or stand in the middle of a National Forest among the breathing trees and roaming wild-life, or in the middle of a desert breaching the Grand Canyon, staring at the stars and feeling very small in comparison. Either way, you can’t help but stand in awe of the beauty that surrounds you, forever changing the core of your soul, a glimpse of what the natives must have felt as they lived among nature.

            America is also patriotism, the sense of pride, the feeling that you belong here, and when you take ownership of this great country.  A place where respect and honor, and a sense of protection, runs through your heart.  This is represented in the heart of all citizens, but, more so in the hearts of the U.S. Military; a distinct group of brave men and women who are willing to sacrifice their own lives and happiness and freedoms, for the benefit of others.  This also comes from American will to survive, from the early settlers, to the struggles that many Americans face today, we have pushed through it all and we are proud of that.  Dedication and hard work always pays off and as long as you hold on to your dreams and fight for them, I truly believe they will come true here in this great land of opportunity.

            As proud as we are of what we have done, we are still a country that is ready and willing to learn. This is where you come in, my new friend, bringing a piece of your world to ours, so that we can learn and grow from it. This country is still young and there is much to do and much that can be accomplished.  We are innovative. In this short period of time , we have developed these great cities, carved highways into those beautiful mountains,  created systems of education, preserved the beauty of the land. There is a balance however, and some of this had to be learned through mistakes, but we are able to learn from them, and continue to grow. Nothing has stopped the American dream, a place of “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” So to say what is American, I say, American is you. Fresh, filled with the dream of greatness, in a land that is ready and waiting for you.  I want to be the first to welcome you to this, please plant your roots, bring your dreams, because the future is bright.


1 comment:

  1. I will say this essay was more challenging than expected. trying to generalize what American/an American/America is. There are so many things that could be said, this could actually turn into a research project. Haha the anthropologist in me wants to go on about how Americans lives differently such as the way we view marriage as a product of love vs. the arranged marriages of the world for social or economic reasons, or how we live as a single nuclear family whenever possible since housing is not exactly a problem in comparison to the way the world lives with nuclear family, plus extended. Or how we are a country that kind of has a catch 22 in our hard work that we work SO hard that we don't rest nearly as much as the rest of the world, but then again, look how far we have come! Anyways, I like the essay that I wrote, it brought out that true romantic, proud american that I am. Less analyzing and more reflecting on the awe that I have for my country. It definitely helped that I just traveled about halfway across the country, through the mountains in West Virginia to the plains of Kansas, seeing cities like Louisville and Saint Louis for the first time. It gave me a picture of what it felt like to be an early settler as I passed by rivers they sailed on, to see cities rise from the horizon that those before me had built. America is beautiful and I am so lucky to be a born citizen. As much as I enjoy other countries, as Dorothy said, there is no place like home.

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