What it Means to Be an American

What does it mean to be an American? There are hundreds of thousands of answers to this complicated question. If you were to go out into the street and ask every person that walked by what it meant to be an American you would get a different answer every time. Every American has a different idea of what it means to them to be an American because they all come from different backgrounds and have had different experiences. To be an American to me is to be diverse. The one thing that sets our country apart from the world and has turned America into the most powerful country in the world is diversity. Whether you are Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Amerindian, Protestant, Roman Catholic, Mormon, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or maybe none at all you are accepted into the United States as a member of the family.

Imagine yourself walking down the street in down town Boston, what do you see in your mind. I'm sure you see a different variety of stores that all sell different items and are built and designed different and are colored different. Even chains of stores are diverse and different in there own way whether it is the color scheme or where things are situated. If you keep on imagining I'm sure when you look around you can see people of different races and origins. There might be a family from one area that live together but they have had different experiences and when you look at them you can see there individuality that they show. Each person has a different outfit on and the way that they wear there hair is different to. This proves that no matter where you are from and who you live with everyone has there own individuality.

In the United States all holidays are celebrated some where and are never looked down upon. In the United States some holidays are celebrated more here then in the country the holiday was created in. For instance Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in the United States more then in Mexico. Cinco de Mayo is the day of the battle of Puebla. In the year 1862, a band of four thousand Mestizo and Zapotec Indians under the leadership of General Ignacio Zaragoza defeated a force of eight thousand highly trained and heavily equipped French troops. This day was looked at as a day that showed the rest of the world that Mexico was able and willing to defend it self from foreigners who wanted to invade and take over there land and people.

"In fact, it is a bigger celebration in the United States than in Mexico, where it is regarded largely as just another holiday- something like Presidents day." ‐James Werrell

In deed if this is true then this proves another reason why our country is so great. We do not oppress those who have different beliefs or back rounds. We do not prohibit the celebration of another's culture or religion but we instead accept it into our culture.

Diversity is not just being different but being accepting of other differences. All Americans are different but we are all unlike and are apart of the same family which makes us so special. Remember the family I was talking about earlier. They represent America and its diversity. They all wear different clothing and they have all had different experiences but yet they are all still one big family living peacefully with one another.

"The choice for immigrants is not and has never been between diversity and unity. Since the founding of this country, people of different racial, religious, and cultural backgrounds, have maintained their specific identities while adhering to the notion that they are of an overall American family. Immigrants, like most Americans, celebrate diversity and embrace unity." ‐Frank Sharry

Diversity is not always a person's choice. What makes a person Black, White, Asian, or Hispanic? There are two main theories to this question one is creationism or the theory a God more powerful then any living thing, created each and every person. The second theory is Darwin's Theory of evolution which states that all living things have gone through natural selection and have mutated to survive in there environment. You are probably asking yourself what does creationism or evolution have to do with diversity in America. Because America allows all walks of life to live free in this country this creates a huge amount of diversity. These people bring in new ideas about our government, creating ideas, jobs, and boosting our economy. If we did not have people from all over the world we would not have a free government, industry, free speech, amendments, cars, etc...

America was not just born with diversity. It took hundreds of years before diversity was embraced in the United States. The first real fight for diversity happened in 1861 in the state of Pennsylvania. As most Americans would know, this was the year of the Civil War. This fight for diversity in America was not against Great Britain, France, or any other country. This fight was against ourselves. It was between the North and South otherwise known as the Union and the Confederacy. It was a fight over slavery and the freedom of future immigrants in the United States

I thought the Civil war was about slavery and freedom?

The definition of freedom is what diversity is all about. The dictionary states:

free·dom; The capacity to exercise choice; free will. This fight against ourselves was to help create freedom and make it so all slaves could make and decide there own choices making them diverse. Some other events in our history have helped to make our country as diverse as it is today such as woman's rights movement, boycotts, marches, busing and much more.

I understand how these protests and wars have made a difference in America back then but how does it effect me in the 21st century?

These events in history even though some were along time ago have created the environment and community we live in today. Lets say for instance that none of these events ever happened. If these historic events did not happen woman would still not be able to vote and would be looked down on as not much then a care taker of the house and the children. Woman would not be aloud into the work place and if they were aloud into what was known as a mans world they would be paid much less then what men doing the same job were being paid. African American would be still in slavery working the cotton fields and would have no hope for any kind of a future. I am not saying that all of these problems have been fixed and have been perfected but in todays society most are looked at as individuals and all are of the same importance.

Diversity has not just made our country great but has also made our country one of the most violent and ridden country's in the world. Most people use diversity as a way to express themselves but some have used it to gain a material or non-material object such as money or revenge. The number of adults that go to prison has been on the rise. From 2003 to 2004 the amount of adults in jail went from 6.94 million to 6.99 million. When people abuse there freedom to be diverse and different from everyone else they need to be punished and there individuality needs to be taken away so they know what it means to have no rights or individuality.

Diversity in todays society has been as controversial as it has ever been. The controversy has been over how much power over diversity a person can have. Such as abortion, immigration, and being in a coma.

There are thousands of jobs from trash collectors to the president of the United States. There are so many jobs in the United States because people have been told to do what they like when growing up. Every job has its own meaning in the eyes of the beholder. When you look at the job of a trash collector what do you see? In my mind I see a very physical and hard job without any benefits except for being smelly. In the eyes of a person who is a trash collector and has made there life about trash then this is a dream job. Thats why our economy is so strong and rich. It is because of the minds of the different people that live in the United States. In other countries citizens are killed for expressing there opinions and speaking out against what they do not believe in. But in America everyday people protest for better jobs or for health care reform. They even protest and speak out about touchy issues such as abortion and immigration. If you even go to the movie theaters you can see movies that would be destroyed and banned in other countries just because it expresses an idea some might find offensive. I have been told that Americans are looked at in other countries around the world as fat, belligerent, obnoxious, and just plain rude. These people do not understand what it means to have free speech and what it means to be able to express there minds. America may look like a very rude country but thats only because we express ourselves and sometimes America has caused some problems that would make us look that way. If anything when you put the meanings of all those words side by side none of them are the same. Even though these words might mean something rude or inappropriate it shows that as a nation we are diverse even when it comes to making mistake. Some Americans decide to be fat, belligerent, obnoxious, and rude but not all are like that and these few words describe what it means to be an American. We are a diverse nation and you decide what you want to be and it is up to you whether you want to be the President of the United States, a stay at home mom, a police officer, an entertainer, or even an astronaut.

"We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams." -Jimmy Carter