My American Creed

Alex S.

5/9/2019

Mrs. Neary

English 2A

The American Creed

My American creed involves many things but primarily patriotism, citizenship and hard work. There are an unlimited amount of different American creeds, it all depends on what important to those individuals; usually it is one of the things that they always want to be or do that then defines them as a person. Some even chase their creeds differently, some are very aggressive in pursuing their dreams. Others take their time and know that they can eventually achieve their creed. No matter what is done, we will always consciously or subconsciously trying to chase their creed.

Patriotism is very important to my family and me, it is to be proud in our case an American, it's being apart of the best country in the world. We Americans get to relish so many luxuries awarded to us via the constitution like freedom of speech, press, expression, and religion, we can do and think whatever we want. So many other countries and people do not have those freedoms, for example in Russia, China, North Korea you cannot say "I think our government stinks!!" if you do you are arrested. You also don't have protections against police, here in America we cannot be searched without probable cause, but in some countries, the police have unlimited power, and they can do whatever they want. There are rights that we use every day and take for granted, and we should be very thankful for those rights. Another big part of patriotism is service, in your community, public office, and the military, our military is the most powerful in the world and has 1.3 million active service members in the Army, Navy, and Airforce. As of 2017, there are 620,000 active police officers in the US, these men and women are fulfilling their American creed by protecting their community and other Americans around them. I have a cousin who is a 10-year veteran of the navy and an uncle who is a 7-year Navy veteran, he also now works as a security contractor. My Grandfather helped during the 1950's designing and building the ejection seat in the f-100d fighter jet. When I talked with him about helping the American military and he had lots to say: "I was proud and honoured to do it, it had always been a dream of mine to help and serve my country as well as work in aviation my lifelong favourite subject... after that assignment I moved on, started DMT making knife sharpeners, but then I had more to worry about because of the family (this was 14 years after the f-100d job, he married my grandma and he had mom and uncle and then aunt on the way), in the DMT days I always kept American in the back of my head, I only used American made products, and hired and manufactured in America while providing for the family (Powell)."  I dream to one day follow in his footsteps and help our country, of which I am tremendously proud to be a part of.

 Citizenship in America is one of the best things one can acquire in the world, it comes with so many benefits such as access to scholarships and loans. It makes it easier to bring family members in as citizens. Citizenship opens the door to the endless possibilities in one's dream, it makes it much easier to obtain a higher education, jobs, and property ownership. But more importantly to me it is about being an active citizen in your community, for example holding the door, and just being a nice person to your fellow Americans, citizenship also means you represent your country and what you do might affect how other people from other countries form their perceptions of America. Another important part of my citizenship is supporting local American businesses, it is crucial to me that American companies are successful, my Grandparents started their own company DMT, the manufactured knife sharpeners here in the USA, Springfield Massachusetts to be exact. My Mom also started her own restaurant in Fairfield, it was called Barbacoa Smokehouse, I helped paint the walls, and I had a job there, we made all of our food from American produce and meats, It was a great experience (the business closed down) to have my fellow Americans come in and supports my Mother's American Creed.

Many opportunities present themselves to people who put in the hard work it takes to be successful. If someone works hard in America, there is no limit to what they can achieve. In the summer of 2017 I started to work as a caddie at Rolling Hills Country Club, I went through 36 "training" holes where I wasn't paid, the next week I show up perfectly on time at 7:00 am and I sit and I wait, no one wanted to have me as their caddie. But I kept showing up every Saturday and Sunday, and eventually I got to go out for 18 holes, and everything went well, when I came the next day I didn't get to go out, after the week passed and I arrived on Saturday, the caddie master/course manager decided to hire me as his assistant, he had seen me doing all the chores caddies have to do diligently and he also saw that I came at 7:00 for the past month and a half and only went out once, but I kept coming and working hard. If I had just given up I wouldn't have had that great opportunity, it was a fantastic first job, and I learned a ton about golf and how to from that experience.

To conclude, I am patriotic, a good citizen and I work hard. If I don't do these things, then I simply cannot call myself a good American.

Works Cited

"Military Statistics." Dudley Knox Library, 18 Mar. 2019, libguides.nps.edu/statistics/military. Accessed 8 June 2019.

Powell, David. Interview. By Alex Stickley. 8 June 2019.