Understanding the American Creed

“I had the good fortune to be born American.” It doesn’t matter whether you are born or immigrate to the U.S, since being part of a country so diverse creates a sense of belonging. Arriving here, you can continue using your old values and incorporate new ones. As more people seek success, it is accompanied with universal values that every American can use in their lives to persevere and achieve major accomplishments. This can be seen in the American Creed documentary with prosperous figures such as Joe Madden, Eric Liu, Diedre Prevett, and Teegan Grifith. These four uphold the American Creed through service to the community as a way to ensure opportunity and freedom.

Even though Joe Madden was a club manager for a major baseball team, he thanks his parents and grandparents for this opportunity. His grandfather immigrated here and mined coal for a living in order to support both his family and the future generations by giving them economic support, which allowed Joe to attend college and not have to follow his parents’ hardships. This effort did not deter any discrimination he experienced for being an immigrant, which is why Madden believes that, “The moment we trust each other. That’s when we can build something.” In order to ensure opportunity for all, there has to be a sense of community for everyone to experience freedom. Having this allows you to serve your country by servicing the community. Eric Liu achieves to serve his community being a public servant in the government and in Citizens University. His parents were also immigrants who were able to achieve a college level education in the U.S that ensured a stable home for the next generation: their son. Having community and access to education allowed them to support themselves and future generations in the country.

Being able to serve your community is essential to the American Creed. This can be achieved in many ways. Native American Diedre Prevett is an elementary school teacher who is able to experience the American Dream by serving her students no matter the obstacles that come by. Through education, she is able to offer students the opportunity to better themselves. She does this because she has the opportunity to, just like her family of educators before her, “What I’m doing now is kinda paying it forward.” She obtains freedom for herself and her community. Tegan Griffith serves her community by following her family’s steps of being in military service. After the attacks of 9/11, she felt a sense of protecting her country, which is why she first joined the military. After being there for years, she realizes that by being there, people have freedom of speech and are able to protest , “I think the American ideal of citizenship is about service to others”. Even though she might not have the safest or highest paying job, she is able to experience a sense of community in every state and ensure freedom for her country.

Lastly, all of the values of community, education, family, service, and freedom the American Creed has are practiced by these four individuals, giving them the sense of belonging in this country. Everyone who can follow their steps can be as successful as them, just by having the American Creed.