Personal Narrative: I Am An American Citizen

After five years, here I am, holding a blue passport and can finally say that I am an American citizen. Can a young immigrant possibly feel any responsibility towards a country that she only became familiar with for five years? The answer is yes, especially coming from a person who lived eleven years of her life in a less developed country and witnessed poverty at a very young age. I loved my country, the Philippines, and I still do, but just like the two different types of love that I have developed for my mother and father, I also came to love the United States along with its culture and diversity.

The United States has provided my family and I many opportunities and so I believe that being a good citizen is giving back to the land that helped me become the person that I am today. The government allocate a large of portion of the taxes paid by the people to public education and by being a diligent student, I’m able to take full advantage of this privilege. I try to be a model student so that I can be successful in the future and bring about change in this country in hopes of making it better for the upcoming
generations. It’s my duty to help America maintain its status as being the land of opportunities where people of every culture can chase and fulfill their “American Dream.”

They say that the youth are in charge of shaping the future, and I believe that because I am a part of it. While we’re known for having weak political convictions, one way that I’m able to give back to my country is by refusing to follow that norm and by being aware of the political state of my country. I’m able to display this quality by watching the news daily and in turn developing my own political views. By being politically aware, I can push for reforms for the underrepresented and fight for my rights to encourage proficient governance. By differentiating myself from the people of my generation, I can serve as a model that can help the youth realize that age does not matter when you want your voice to be heard. One of the main reasons that young adults, feel that they cannot make a difference is because they fail to see that being a good citizen and causing a change can start in their local communities.
I was privileged enough to be a part of a program in my high school that encouraged participating in volunteer work for both the community and school. For the past 3 years of my high school career, I was able to volunteer at neighborhood events hosted by a recreational center to a larger scale event like the Little Feet Meet hosted by Old Dominion University, where a Special Olympics is organized for elementary students across Norfolk who have mental and physical disabilities. By volunteering to these type of events, I realized that one of the fundamental aspects of being a good citizen is helping provide an environment in which everyone can feel free and
happy.