Technically an American is someone who lives in America, but most commonly Americans are people who live in The United States.
What I think describes an American is someone who lives in America, and who has experience in all types of cultures. The U.S. is known as the melting pot for a reason, there are so many types of people, religions, and cultures here. To live here and not have experienced at least two different cultures in your life is nearly impossible.
To be and American also involves being free, or that is what it's supposed to mean, when explorers came to America they were seeking a few things but freedom was a main treasure they wanted. An important group that came were the Puritans, seeking a new world of their own, without people with different beliefs.
Another part of Americas history that shows freedom was the conflict between newly formed Americans and Britain to establish a new and free people.
To be an American is to be culturally diverse, to be free, free of religious conflict, free of slavery, and free of persecution.
I agree with most of what your saying, the only part I disagree about in your blog is when you say, "to be an American is to be culturally diverse, to be free, free of religious conflict, free of slavery, and free of persecution." I think that although as an American you are legally allowed to follow any religion you like, being an American doesn't always remove religious conflict from your life. Also when you say that being an American is to be free from slavery I think that yes, this may apply now, but what about 100 years ago. Were the people who founded this country not American? Finally you say that to be an American you are free from persecution. I definitely do not this this is true. I think that this an ideal of being an American, but ultimately there is still many different forms of persecution in our country whether it be over race or some other reason.
ReplyDeleteI agree that anyone in America will experience many different cultures. All of us have definitely experienced many, even in as short as our lives have been. The fact that we are exposed to many different ways of living affects us in a way that can help define what it is to be an American.
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