What it means to be an American

What it means to be an American is to know the sense of pride that comes with reciting the pledge of allegiance, to understand that the state is not more important than the individual, and that peace is the product of hundreds of thousands of men and women serving our country, and often paying the ultimate price for our freedom today.

To be an American also means that whenever your freedom gets threatened, liberty corrupted or quality of life disturbed, you fight through any adversity and more to restore the balance of those absolutely priceless human needs.

When terrorists conducted the absolutely horrible events on 9-11-01, I was in first grade and did not understand the full significance of the catastrophe. My Dad tied a yellow ribbon onto my backpack on the first anniversary of the disaster and told me that it was there to show that we remembered the wrongs that were done to innocent people.

My Dad was a medic in the U.S. Army, and although he did not ever have to go behind enemy lines, he taught me why freedom should be respected as much as it should be. Now, whenever I hear the Star- Spangled Banner sung, or I recite the pledge of allegiance, I remember all of the men and women who have died in the name of freedom, and I give their sacrifice every ounce of respect I have in my body.

When I hear about the worsening stock market and how we are in a recession, and how Al Qaeda is trying to elect a new and more horrible leader, I get very frustrated with our country. I wonder why we do not just all work harder and produce our own products like we did in the past. I wonder why we do not just hunt down every man who wants to commit genocidal atrocities in the Middle East and imprison them for the rest of their lives.

It seems like the world is slowly getting more and more cowardly; less and less of the general population are stepping up against injustice around the world in fear that they will be randomly struck down by suicide bombers, or protested against by people who are afraid of rooting out terror because “It is not their job, why should they support not living in fear?”

Whenever I look at all of the past accomplishments of our people, and all of the sheer pride that we still hold in our land and hearts even though we have all been through so many hard times in the last decade, I nearly cry out in joy at what a good quality of life we are able to enjoy.

The question I ask myself then is: At what cost do we have to pay to have such freedom? The answer can be seen in Gettysburg, the beaches of Normandy, and countless other places where we have fought to defend our freedom or future well being.

One saying that is infinitely true is that “Freedom isn’t free, and to assume that it is will, without any doubt, lead to its downfall”.

It is with great pride and honor that we can declare ourselves free citizens of the United States of America. Even though we may sometimes have doubt in our futures, or loss of hope, we can always trust that we will survive through any adversity.

What it means to be an American is to never accept the injustice that we have recently encountered and will keep encountering, and to never compromise for anything other than peace, liberty, and prosperity for all.