What Does It Mean To Be An American?

When talking about being an American, people usually think about having good salaries, owning a big house with nice cars, doing everything you like without being corrected or judged by anyone. But many people don’t know that America wasn’t as good as it is today. The country had to experience a lot of wars, ideologies, equality between races,... Being an American is being free, be able to have a good education, and be able to express your ideas, dreams and deliver that to other people.
When talking about being American, freedom is one of the most important elements in building America. But do we know what freedom really means? According to Katharine Gammon, a freelance science writer who has contributed to many works for large corporations:
Discover, Nature, Wired and many others, explained ‘’what is freedom?” in her blog,” Freedom is the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint, and the absence of a despotic government.” With freedom in your hands, you can do a lot of things: tell people your ideas about a certain subject, speak up your mind, do what you like (as long as it’s legal), help other people in need, create something that will change the world.
But freedom wasn’t given to people like handling free meals. Many people fought for freedom and even gave their lives to freedom; they did that to demonstrate how important it is. Based on the report of Scholastic News Online, they asked,”What does it mean to be an American?”. Ashley M., a student in Wisconsin, said,’’To be an American to me means that I am free. That when I grow up I can pick the job I want, what shift to work. And to have a good education. It means that I can say ‘The Pledge of Allegiance’ and that I can vote for the President, my county clerk, and the Mayor. But to me it
means most of all to be free and to be proud that I live in the United States of America here in Wisconsin.” From the point of view of a student, she stated the ideas that most people would want to do in their lifetime. Everyone wants to do the job that they like, choose the hours they want to work, say ‘‘The Pledge of Allegiance’’, and the most important is to have a good education. Because education is the key to success and a weapon that can destroy the hatred, inequalities, dilemma,...
In many developing countries, people are seeking for opportunities to have a good education for themselves as well as their children.
Education is not always free. Many countries are still required paying a certain amount of money to have a “normal” education. The “normal” education means that you will receive the amount of knowledge that only help you in some parts along the way. If you wanted to have a good education, you could pay more money to receive extra help from the teachers like: show you how to do things ahead of time, give you some tips about tomorrow tests, pay extra attention to you,... In Vietnam, we usually pay the fees for air-conditioning, water, meals, and many other things. I don’t know how everything works now. But when I was in Vietnam about 2 years ago, my schedule was waking up in the morning around six, brush my teeth, and eat breakfast then go to school. The school day lasted about 10 hours from 7 A.M to 5 P.M. After school, I went to my teacher’s home or workplace to study. I wasn’t the only one, many parents did the same thing to their kids. It lasted about 2 to 3 hours. And I had to repeat that schedule for almost 3 years. Although it sounds horrible, it was actually fun because you are able to make some new friends, study in groups, chatting,... Sometimes, you will receive food from the teachers and share it together. I remember that one time when my teacher’s house was flooded because of heavy rain. We were seating in the house and all of
sudden, rain poured down like the waterfall. About 15 minutes later, the house was full of water. We were screaming and laughing at the same time. But instead of calling my parents to pick us up, we decided that we should help our teacher clean the house. In fact, we just wanted to have fun. As a result, we spent the whole night at the teacher’s house. Although, education is important and everyone should be able to have a free education and receive equal opportunities. Not having the education is like eating pizza without tomato sauce. And yet, many people don’t have the basic fundamentals. Many kinds of research have shown that people with higher education earn more money and have better jobs than people don’t have access to education or can’t afford it. As a result, people who don’t receive education tend to commit crimes and do bad things. On the whole, education should be free and accessible to everyone.
We are living in an era where everyone should have the rights to express their ideas, dreams and deliver that to other people. According to Wikipedia document about Freedom of speech, the Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, states,”Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” Be able to express your ideas, speak your voice and have a place in society are very important. Not just for yourself, but for others as well. Imagine the world where no one could speak up, no one could freely express their ideas and thoughts-It’s like a prison-you have to obey every word of that one person; you have to do what you are told and can’t deny or disobey the orders. We are very lucky because there are many countries in the world where many people are still being oppressed by their government. If you offend your government, then you would go to jail. It’s very different from what we see in America. I’m not saying that other countries should do the same thing that America is doing. Each country has their own ways of operating their government as well as policies. What I’m trying to say is that people should at least have their own rights: the right to speak up, act, seek help,... Clearly, your voice and ideas are very powerful! It can change the course of how things work.
Today, America has the important role in the world. America helps many countries around the world and opens the doors to welcome immigrants into the country. In fact, I’m glad that my parents chose to move here 2 years ago. Although, things were hard at first because we don’t know the language and the how everything works. Even so, I and my parents didn’t give up. We kept moving forward to our goal. In the future, America will keep rising and become the brightest star in the universe. And I will be one of many people who contribute to that success.