American Creed

David M.

American Creed

The last few generations of my family embody the journey of the American Dream. The American Dream is, in essence, freedom. The freedom to do what you want, when you want on your own volition. The idea that you are not limited by some arbitrary guidelines. In America, that was the life I was born into. However, it has not always been that way throughout my family’s history.

My mother was the first member of my family to graduate college. She was the first person on her side of the family to be born in the United States and her opportunities are much greater than her parents before her. Her mother was an immigrant from South Korea. I was never told much about who she was before she had my mother. Now, in her old age, she gets to live her life spending every moment with her family. It seems like a wonderful life to lead. However, I cannot help but think something is missing when I see her. Perhaps that something is ambition, or rather a dream that they strive for. She never got to go to college or explore the world. I think sometimes maybe she never got to live her dream.

That changed starting with my mother. She’s always told me that, from a young age, she always wanted to be a schoolteacher. That is the American Dream she is living now. It did not come easy. I spent my early childhood watching her go sleepless nights to provide for me and my sister while simultaneously pursuing a higher education. It was never glamourous and was quite challenging at times, but her ambition to achieve her dream always pushed her forward. After graduating college and getting her dream job, she now watches her kids fulfill their own American Dream.

My sister is in college now, working towards potentially becoming the first doctor in our family. Though I am still unsure of what my American Dream is, that is the Creed that ties us together. The ambition to achieve that which you have always wanted without limits is what it means to be an American. My mother worked hard to become more than her mother was before her and to pave the way for me and my sister to accomplish more than she could. My sister and I pledge to continue this legacy of ambition to achieve our dreams and help the next generation to accomplish theirs as well. That opportunity and determination is my American Creed and for that, I am proud to be an American.