What Does It Mean to Be an American
Nosotros asked 20 people on what it ways to be an American in this twenty-four hours and historic period.
Never giving upwardly
American pioneers met tremendous obstacles as they crossed the plains and mountains of the West; they had no roads, they had few trails, and they had simply rough equipment to bring their entire families over rough terrain.
Entrepreneurs are the modern equivalent of those pioneers. Similar those intrepid adventurers, entrepreneurs are seeking a amend life. Americans don't quit when there are obstacles or challenges. Aforementioned with every true entrepreneur, we simply don't give up, don't quit, e'er.
When I wanted to start my ain company, I stayed true to myself; I didn't take VC money which was unheard of in Silicon Valley. I mortgaged my house and took out a depository financial institution loan in pursuit of the American dream even though the bank required me to brand the company profitable from day one.
With true American grit, hard work, and the spirit of an entrepreneur, I led Micrel for 37 long years, all merely one were profitable.
Hard work, belief in yourself, never, e'er giving upwardly, that is the essence of being an American.
Living your life by example
To reply the question, I feel one must have gratitude for what America offers and appreciate existence an American! My story and that of my family is deep-seated in values, respect and a dearest for freedom. Plus, our love for America.
As the Founder and Chairman of a global hair intendance visitor located in Houston, TX I envisioned the red, white and blue of an American Dream from an early age. Built-in in the Center E and the son of a Sheikh and Master of the olive farmers in Palestine, I was built-in in mid-October 1942.
I entered the globe during a paradox: a year of struggle and challenge but also a season of love and peace. As a child, I grew upwardly exposed to the trials and tribulations of war.
Information technology was during hard times that my father would share his stories of coming to America in 1920 and how information technology was the country of peace, freedom, and freedom. He would also talk nearly the instruction offered in America to be whatsoever you wanted to be too as the opportunities to alive the American dream.
I often dreamt of leaving Palestine and coming to America one day and I did. On April 1, 1965, with only $71.00 in my pocket, I landed in America.
In 1966, I obtained my cosmetology license and began working in a salon. After some health issues and allergy to ammonia, I used the noesis of creating colors from my mother to create the first ammonia-free hair colour. I went on to create additional professional person hair care products and styling tools.
The hairdressing profession calls me "The CHI Man" while I will consider myself "American past Choice" which is the title of my book that shares my life story.
Each twenty-four hour period is a blessing and I give thanks God for what I have been able to reach and give back to the people of this land. I serve on the board of many organizations including the NDUF (National Defense University Foundation) as the Foundation's Special Representative and Adviser for International Affairs. I am also humbled to be a frequent speaker on leadership at Harvard University.
Beingness American today ways living your life by example. Showing others how we must piece of work together, rich or poor, whatsoever your race, Republican or Democrat, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist or Christian.
Related: 5 Means to Inspire the People Around You
We must all strive to leave the earth a meliorate place than we found it. As Americans, we are individuals who come from different cultures, religions and economic backgrounds– but our future is fabricated together, made in the United states.
My dreams, my goals and the opportunities I was gifted with are my testaments of what information technology means to be American today. God bless America.
Having the correct and liberty to cull
There isn't one America anymore, and in that location never was ane America or 1 type of American.
In a country of almost 330-million people, there isn't i thread that binds usa all. Nosotros celebrate different holidays, vote for different political parties, worship different Gods if any, eat dissimilar foods, and don't even agree on what to do during the National Anthem. In that location isn't a common civilization or national identity.
And different during the Cold War, nosotros tin't even agree on a common enemy. Is it Russia? China? Ourselves? There isn't even a consensus on America'due south concrete borders and whether we should accept them or accept open borders.
And some Americans aren't even aware that the U.s.a. territories are part of the United States and those that live there are American citizens.
Simply this is exactly what makes Americans American. We tin disagree. We can enjoy unlike things. We can argue amongst ourselves. Nosotros tin be vegans and meat eaters. Pro-life and Pro-Choice. Yankees fans and Dodgers fans. Republicans and Democrats.
America is the land of individualism even if that individualism is to choose to be function of the commonage. The 1 thing that makes Americans American isn't a culture, a faith, a political credo, or even the Super Bowl, it is our Constitution that grants us the rights of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Assembly, it is our institutions that were designed to permit the states the freedom to cull even when we disagree and fifty-fifty when we determine we were wrong, then allows the people to change those institutions.
What does it mean to be an American? It means having the right and liberty to choose what that means.
An individual flavor in a complex mixed treat
I write this article in an international drome. I write this article embracing the naive, perhaps slightly egotistic, assumption that "American" means the United Land of American, and we forget the human relationship with Canadians, Mexicans, and other Latinos in Primal America who all take lives and humanity in other American areas.
I write this article while observing international people in America, remembering my fourth dimension serving and enjoying six different countries. I write this commodity while remembering working with members of the Sioux tribe in Mission, SD, mentoring college athletes from all over the world in my dorm during undergrad, and hosting high school and higher students into the diverse inner-city of Nashville, TN.
I write this article while holding tight to my formal academic pedagogy that taught me most the roots of "American" history excavation deep into religious structures.
My mind is currently like a multi-ingredient intellectual Blizzard, with all of the ingredients passionately fighting to get me to notice their individuality. The principal ingredient of Sioux and other Native Americans go transformed past all of the little pieces of European immigrants from the past several centuries. Those new pieces, once so strong, now dwindling in influence as chunks from Asia, Latin America, and the Middle Eastward begin to change the structure of this ever-changing Blizzard.
Similar The Campfire, The Brownie Dough, Royal Oreo, and then many other delicious Blizzards should we also have a catchy proper noun for the cultural Blizzard that describes what information technology means to be an American?
Should centuries of negative and positive innovations, battles, relationships, and heartaches experience the summation by 2 to three words?
A mixed care for by the proper name People of Passionate Purpose highlights the people who led innovation and revolution merely overlooks individuals who accept, for years, been taught of their inability to succeed, embracing an blah lifestyle.
A mixed care for by the name Compassionate Christian Comrades embraces a traditional reality that doesn't exist and may have never actually existed in Americans equally a populous.
The traditional 1-sighted, sometimes legalistic, perspective forgets that the forefathers of this slap-up state paved a place of religious liberty, entirely. In this analogy of a mixed treat, this is where lactose intolerant comes into the equation.
Sometimes embracing what we thought was the foundation of our land makes others sick because of either transformation or misinterpretation over the years.
Honor, pride, trust, passion, innovation, craftiness, loyalty, and many other traits (negative and positive) are merely a few of the chunks that dive through the filter of upshot and time orientation, shame and honor cultures, efficiency and hospitality focus, and many other unique principles that allow elements to get blurred into 1 bang-up mixture.
When enjoyed appropriately, the mixture tastes and then pleasant. The problem is though, we treat this mixture as the primary course instead of the dessert. The chief course is that of humanity.
We must embrace humans as humans before we enjoy the treat of individuality. Eating any dessert in place of the main course does non atomic number 82 to pleasant bedtime.
What does it mean to be American: It means yous are an private flavor in a complex mixed care for.
One question is, will those observing the treat known as American culture taste your flavor? The other question is, will you focus as well much on the treat and forget that the existent importance is humanity?
Breaking the limiting beliefs
Growing up with an immigrant begetter who came from poverty only worked his fashion up to a Ph.D. and a ticket to America, I was taught to go to school, get skilful grades, graduate college, and get a corporate job. This was my dad's "American Dream" for me.
Later on 15 years of being a rat in the race of corporate Sales & Recruiting, I burnt out and launched my own professional abode organization company. I netted a profit in the commencement year of my business that allowed me to cover all my basic expenses with zero debt. Dad is slowly coming around, although he nonetheless has no idea what I actually exercise!
Breaking the limiting behavior and anchors of our family are primal to making it in entrepreneurship, especially as a first-generation American.
When I stopped caring what people think, my business organisation soared. I transformed the lives and businesses of 250 clients in 2018 and I plan to double that in 2019! This is my American Dream!
Free to believe in any yous choose
Living in the Soviet Union, I viewed America as being the state of freedom and opportunity. Ultimately, to be American means to be free with your religious beliefs, to be free to your ideological beliefs, and to be able to identify opportunities and act on them regardless of your background.
Even though I wasn't built-in hither, I consider myself to exist American considering I am free to believe in whatever I choose and when a business opportunity presented itself, I took information technology and have a prosperous business organization.
Jimmy McMillan
Owner, Heart Life Insurance & HiBMI.com
To exist an American is to be a trailblazer
Your path is not fix. Your fate is never sealed. Your die is non cast. You can settle an entire continent, win a few world wars, cure polio and put a human being on the moon if yous put your mind to it. There is no "manifest destiny" for an American. We get to manifest that destiny ourselves.
As an American, the opportunity for something truly spectacular is all around if we cull to arrive happen. I take keen pride and comfort in these thoughts.
Trish Lake
Possessor & CEO, TLC Cleaning LLC
Today Americans are overworked, overtired, overstressed and constantly on the run
With the average American working 45+ hours per week we are starting to leave out time for family and friends. My company constantly sees the stressed-out parents begging u.s.a. to aid take some weight off their shoulders. It has get a way of our order to e'er be on the move.
More Selfies, more kids activities, more work hustle. The end result is becoming the "American Dream". My company is successful considering Americans are overstressed.
A responsibility to uphold the institutions that made this country
Being an American ways that nosotros all accept a responsibility to uphold the institutions that made this country and requite dorsum to the customs.
Americans of past and present understand that the investments and contributions we make will not necessarily exist enjoyed past u.s. but rather our children and grandchildren.
This ways cleaning up our parks, doing ethical business organization, looking out for our neighbors, and ensuring the poor and immature accept the opportunities to get ahead. If you're willing to work, an American is willing to help you.
Americans wait out for the long-term interest for the country and each other. That's how nosotros build things that terminal. Our state is built upon a stone foundation of tradition, not of avarice or material gain.
To be an American ways something different to everyone
To me, it means I am blessed. It means we are all blessed. This country, however imperfect, is packed with more than beauty, extraordinary people, and opportunities than we are lead to believe.
To be an American means I have a responsibility to value and take advantage of these things. Too many people accept given and go along to give likewise much for us to allow ourselves to be undone by anger and divisiveness.
People like my married man, who died in Iraq, gave their own lives then that we may live fully and freely, and to assist others do the same.
Information technology breaks my heart to see politics being used as a weapon of divisiveness. I believe we as people are better than what we are allowing ourselves to become.
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To be an American means we should be unapologetically patriotic before nosotros are political considering when nosotros approach our challenges as one united entity nosotros have more power to overcome them for the greater good. It means the service and sacrifice of so many are not forgotten.
Linda Ruescher
Accolade-Winning Health Educator | Speaker | Author | Musician
We are suffering from a dumbing downwardly of America
As an American in 2019, I am more fearful and saddened that I accept been at many times since the Vietnam War and the ceremonious rights motion. Hatred and xenophobia keep to abound spawning violence.
The heart class continues to compress. We have children in poverty and some people unwilling to acknowledge their suffering much less spend taxation dollars to alleviate their hunger and need for medical intendance. The list goes on and on.
Fifty-fifty worse is rampant ignorance, from the acme down well-nigh how government works and why we need to preserve the constitutional separation of powers and dominion of law. We are suffering from a dumbing downwardly of America.
A poorly educated and ill-informed electorate is a danger to our very fashion of life. Cutting funds for education, poor teacher pay, and for-profit charter schools accept diluted our educational standards.
The source of these and then many other problems, that every bit a collective society, we take lost our humanity. Yes, there are many who intendance. There are many who practice not care, operating from a mentality that, "I take mine. Go your own."
Traditions of questioning the present
A patriot honors our long American traditions of questioning the nowadays, seeing how nosotros can make people'south lives better, and taking steps to bring information technology well-nigh–and putting the skillful of the whole ahead of individual financial success.
Thus, activists involved in such causes every bit climate change/environment, peace, immigration reform, pluralism, democracy, or gun safe are usually patriots.
Hither'due south how I do my patriotic work, along with existence out in the streets and going to meetings:
As a profitability consultant for green and social entrepreneurship businesses, I show businesses how they tin go beyond mere "sustainability" (keeping things the same) to "regenerativity" (making things ameliorate).
I piece of work with them to develop and market profitable products and services that turn hunger and poverty into sufficiency, war into peace, and catastrophic climate change into planetary balance.
Don't take your rights for granted
Being an American can be boiled down to appreciating your unique, unalienable rights.
While Americans are guaranteed certain basic rights, not every land is so benevolent and free. In fact, many countries restrict freedom of speech communication and organized religion, exercise not permit citizens to own guns, don't guarantee due process, and expropriate private property without proper bounty.
Nevertheless, many Americans accept these freedoms for granted and take sought to have them limited out of a false belief that it will enhance the quality of life for all Americans. John Adams famously said that "Rights cannot be repealed or restrained past human being laws; Rights are derived from the Bully Legislator of the Universe."
The United states was founded on the principle that there are sure rights which are only above the government. The great founding fathers believed that government should be limited as much as possible since information technology inevitably leads to the suppression of the rights of the citizens.
This precept is still conspicuously relevant in a globe in which "costless countries" will jail and fine citizens for violating "spoken language laws", pursuing ameliorate healthcare, and defending their property.
The fact of the matter is that Americans are by far the freest people in the world. Therefore, it follows that being an American ways knowing those freedoms, appreciating them, non taking them for granted and absolutely never forsaking them.
The most unique things nearly Americans is patriotism
Through American history, probably one of the near unique things about Americans is patriotism – non ditching your land fifty-fifty when it'southward at your own loss.
Whether information technology was during the Revolutionary State of war, when the Usa near lost to England but miraculously pulled off a win, or something else, Americans have always stood by their country.
That's why, in my opinion, being American is standing by your own country. Even though some people might not hold with what our current president is doing in function, they need to realize that it'due south not permanent. We need to look at America overall, not just the current circumstances. What makes America and then unique is that everyone has a different mindset – and therefore we have a lot of innovation.
Notwithstanding, no matter what happens, I feel that it is important to remain patriotic to your ain country, even through hard times. It volition only benefit us in the future.
Nancy Schimmel
Songwriter, Sister's Choice
Being skillful citizens of our city, county, and state
Being an American in 2019 means appreciating the amazing natural wonders of our country, from the waterfalls of Yosemite to the butterflies in our front yards. It ways cherishing our fellow Americans, from the kids playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, to our favorite team playing in the finals, to Yo-Yo Ma playing cello at our southern border.
It means appreciating all our history: not just memorializing presidents and generals but putting Harriet Tubman on a twenty-dollar neb and protecting the Native American sacred spaces threatened by logging and fuel extraction.
Being an American in 2019 means going across the fifty states and recognizing that Puerto Ricans are Americans too, and deserve our full-out support when they are hit by a hurricane.
It too means looking across our states and territories and realizing that what happens in Africa and Asia affects the daily life of Americans and vice versa and that our unsustainable free energy production and farming methods affect everyone in the world through climate change.
It means focusing on our locality within America because many of the changes we need to brand are more effective on the local than the national level: solar panels on the rooftops of our public schools, support for public transportation then that people can afford to get to work without producing so much pollution.
Some of what it means to be an American is what it has always meant: helping neighbors, welcoming newcomers, voting. But existence good citizens of America means beingness proficient citizens of our metropolis, canton, and country as well, and then voting means voting all the way down the ballot. And let u.s.a. recall that being citizens of the United States we are, by treaty and in our own best interests, citizens of our globe.
Jennifer Billman
Manager of Public Relations, Contender VC LLC
Living in a free land
For me existence an American means living in a free country where I can freely express my organized religion, sexuality & share my opinion and thoughts without fearing incarceration or even expiry.
My mother was raised in East Germany, an oppressed country. She was expelled from school subsequently wearing a Coca-Cola shirt her grandmother from Due west Germany mailed her. Here in America, I tin can ship my kids to school without fearing incarceration considering my daughter is wearing a shirt that hasn't been approved past the authorities.
Having a multicultural, multi-ethnic family
To me, a major function of being American today is having a multicultural, multi-ethnic family and including holidays and celebrations from these varied heritages in our own family traditions.
I am thankful to have a diverse extended family that speaks a variety of languages, holds varied religious beliefs, and that upholds specific cultural traditions while accepting other'southward beliefs and traditions.
For example, my sister'south nuptials will exist conducted by an Episcopalian priest, merely will also include portions in French, Japanese, and Hebrew with readings from the Bible and the Torah.
I know this type of freedom and credence isn't available everywhere in the world today, which is why it's something I cherish nigh being American.
Trent Hankinson
Manager & Frontman, Aqua Seca Ring
Being an American just might exist the well-nigh unique experience in the world
Pretty much nowhere else in the world tin you be accustomed so graciously and so rapidly. For example, in Nihon, it is very difficult to become a citizen. In fact, information technology is so uncommon that rarely everyone goes through with it.
Only in America, all you lot accept to do is remember a few facts, believe in commonwealth and follow some laws, bam! Y'all are an American! Information technology is so wonderful.
My family came here from southern Germany nearly 100 years ago. My smashing, keen grandfather did non similar the management Germany was heading in 1910, and then he got the family together and boarded a ship to New York.
109 years later, I sit down here in LA and remember about how dissimilar my life would exist had I stayed in Germany. Would I piece of work equally hard every bit I do now? Would I exist able to enjoy democracy every bit I exercise here? Would I exist able to have equally much convenience every bit I exercise?
Chances are that life would be much different if we had stayed in Federal republic of germany. I take traveled back to Deutschland many times in my life and found that life is overnice, but I always savour returning to the US.
A place where 24-hour Walmarts are the norm and businesses don't close from i pm to 5 pm for some strange reason (Spain/most of rural Europe).
Being an American is not all about convenience though, it is about doing what you desire to do. Being able to wake up every 24-hour interval and decide what information technology is you want to have an impact on. What information technology is yous want to make smooth. For me, that is music, and playing information technology to as many people as possible. But to yous, it may be dissimilar.
Maybe you enjoy volunteering, or working with your hands, or designing a new component for an aeroplane, whatever it might be. Being an American means being an entrepreneur. It means setting out in life with your own plans, your own Manifest Destiny.
And merely in America will nobody try to stop you.
To have respect and honour for your land and those that live on it with you
Existence an American no longer has one cookie-cutter definition. I am a walking example of this, a Third-Civilization-Kid, having been born with an American passport simply in Germany. The first 12 years of babyhood were spent traveling around the world, picking up new cultures and worldviews forth the way.
I have been, and always will be an American, merely with a little flair. I call up most Americans take that these days, a little flair. A little of something that makes us different makes us free, makes united states of america American, in our ain way.
To exist an American means to have respect and honour for your land and those that alive on it with you.
It means, having the freedom of expression, beliefs, and emotion. Information technology means living the life yous want to alive, every mean solar day regardless of your race, religion, or gender. Information technology is a cute blend of individual flair coming together to make i colorful flag of red, white, and blue.
Source: https://upjourney.com/what-does-it-mean-to-be-american
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