American Creed Op-Ed

America is one of, if not the most, diverse countries in the world. America is a place where people go to be free. To be an American, in my opinion, does not mean that you have to be born in the U.S. It means that you respect your fellow Americans. It also means that you respect the laws that are there to protect us.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “an American has no sense of privacy. He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in the country”. This quote states that this country is “free”, but Americans do not know what privacy is because of the government that is always checking in on the citizens.

Everyone has their own opinion on what it means to be an American. That is why I do not think there is, or should be, one definition of what it means to be an American. However, people do have very strong opinions. I think that this is the land of the free and people come here to be free. That means that anyone who is brave enough to come to this country should be allowed to.

Some people think that immigrants who want to come to this country would deprive American citizens of their privileges. They do not think that they deserve to come here because they are not rich enough, or smart enough, or because they do not look exactly like them. I do not agree with this but many other people do. I think it is a shame that our country has come to this. Especially when other countries are in a time of crisis and need our support the most.

In conclusion, there are no boundaries on what it means to be an American. Although the government has certain checks and balances, it is to protect the citizens. The citizens do not have to look a certain way, have a certain amount of money or pass any aptitude tests to qualify. It is important that people define for themselves what it means to be an American.