How To Be American Is An Honor

I am an American. I choose this word to represent me, although others may not acquiesce and won’t categorize individuals who aren’t born in this country to be Americans. In others perspective, to be an American means to have the blood of an American. But I on the other hand, don’t have the heritage and the qualifications that are expected of me to be an American but that is the word that I have chosen to describe myself regardless. The definition of what it means to be an American is debatable and varies from each person. It is more about what you are about rather than who you are. It is contributing to this country, pledging allegiance to a flag and being open to the idea of life, liberty, and equality.

What it means to be an American is that you have the freedom to vote freedom of speech. You have the liberty to be what you want in America no one chooses for you. Also have the liberty to work wherever you want not be someone 's slave. Being American means you don 't have to hide your religion, the color of your skin or your sex. You have the ability to speak what you want. There are so many good things about being American but there are some downsigns.

In the current political environment, the question “What does it mean to be an American” is one that really caused me to think and reflect deeply. And while some are vowing to “Make America Great Again”, I think there are already a number of things that already make America great and make me proud to be an American. Early on, our founding fathers suggested through the Constitution that at its core, what it meant to be American was simply “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” That’s a fairly simplistic notion and the focus of my essay explores whether this literal interpretation can still apply in today’s more complex society or whether being an American requires more than that.

Being an American means a few things. Freedom, protecting the weak, loving your country, and being active in political affairs. The most important and also the most defining is freedom. Americans are free in both mind and body; able to think freely and, for the most part, act accordingly. Being an American means that almost anyone can run for government positions. Being an American means that if you don’t like the laws, you work to change them through politics. Being an American means dreaming bigger than reason, and working to fulfill that dream. Being an American also means that while you are free to disagree with America’s government and political figures, you realize that America is trying it’s best, and you respect that.

When you ask a non American “What does America mean to you?”, they will more often than not answer with hamburgers, obesity, NFL and Reality TV. That is okay because who doesn 't love hamburgers and football filled Sundays, who doesn 't love watching silly reality TV shows and who doesn 't love a cheat day every once in awhile? Those people are judging a book by its cover and fortunately for me… well my thoughts about America are quite different. When an individual asks me “What does America mean to you?”, I immediately think of three words, freedom, love and family. The most important right someone can have in this world is freedom and luckily for americans we have the luxury of freedom all the time. America has the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition, the freedoms I just listed are only a few that America are known for. Sadly for other countries, most of them do

In some of the pieces of literature like “I, Too, Sing America,” “America and I,” “The Bill of Rights,” and “Veterans Day: Never Forget Their Duty” the authors have different ideas of what it means to be American. They also express their ideas using different strategies: negation, classification, and function. With these ideas and strategies a more complex definition on what it means to be American was developed. Being an American means being patriotic, having freedoms, and believing in a dream of something amazing.

I believe that being an American Is the greatest thing that could happen to a person and here is why. In the story "Veterans Day: Never Forget Their Duty" is about veterans who are P.O.W.s in North Vietnam. They were captured and tortured. But even going through all that they are still able to salute the flag of The United States Of America. A man named Mike Christian, he was the man who sewed an American flag on the inside of his shirt. Every day the would salute the flag during lunch and they would say the pledge of allegiance. One day the soldiers found the flag and beat Mike Christian severely until he was bleeding bad. Afterwards he was sitting in the only light in the room. He was sowing a new flag for them to pledge to before they eat. Mike Christian is a patriot. And being a patriot is apart of the American dream which I believe in.

What does it mean to be an american? Isn’t that the question that every american citizen wonders at some point in their lives? It is a simple question that can be taken different ways and answered in many different forms. Some may answer as a personal opinion, others as a factual statement, I however agree with those who see it as an opinion. Every person in America is different in some way. We all go through life in varying manners, some choose to challenge the everyday laws, others cling to the authority hoping not to get noticed, we have different jobs, go to different schools, live in different neighborhoods, some of us have hundreds of family members, and some have none, theres no telling the situation. So the question in general is hard to answer because every American has a different view of living in america. Some people see it as shameful to live in such a cruel country, some are proud to be a part of something that is constantly evolving, there are endless feelings towards America and all are found in the people of this country.

Being an American is simply having equal rights, equal opportunities, freedom, and a safer, better life. There are countries that are so strict that if you are seen doing something you are not supposed to, you will be arrested and killed. That’s why we are so privileged to live in a country that allows us to do what we want to.

To be an American to me is not about your ethnicity, religion, or language you speak. It’s about your beliefs and what you add to this country. Americanism can be shown through many things throughout our community, and an important trait to an American citizen is that we respect everyone no matter their appearance. One of America’s traits is being a very

The actual definition of American is relating to, or characteristic of the United States or its inhabitants. Being proud of who you are and the place you live. Americans have defined themselves not by their racial, religious, and ethnic identity but by their common values and belief in individual freedom. An American says the Pledge of Allegiance and understands that voting is important to Democracy, individually Americans value freedom and are proud citizens, and the freedom of human right.

In “Veterans Day: Never Forget Their Duty”, by John Sidney McCain he Defines his own personal interpretation of what an American is. To McCain an American is someone who would die for this country in paragraph 9-14 McCain states that his best friend Mike Christian was beaten for making a flag, however even though the Vietnamese soldiers beat Mike he was making another one and it wasn't because he was making the flag for himself “ he was making that flag because he knew how important it was for us to be able to pledge our allegiance to our flag and country. I agree with John McCain because my interpretation of an American is someone who would die for America and

Being an American means many things. It means freedom, pride, and the opportunity to receive proper education. While these things may have different meanings to those who think upon them, they are three of the main factors of being an American.

In this essay we will attempt to explain what is an American. We will compare two different pieces of literature. We will analyze "In Response to Executive Order 9066" and "Mericans" to see how the authors define what it means to be an American. In my opinion cultural heritage and physical appearance do not determine what is an American. America is a melting pot. America is a land of immigrants. People come from all parts of the world to experience the American dream. These two pieces of literature are focused on Japanese Americans and Mexican Americans.

An American, what does it mean to call oneself an American? To many outside the United States, it means patriotism, it means freedom. To others it means laziness, gluttony, or greed. To almost every American, it means the freedom to choose one’s fate. America has been known to be called “The Land of Endless Opportunity.” Ben Franklin was the pioneer of this idea and thus made a large contribution to the American identity through his ideas and hard work.