Be a Practicing American
Post #288
Be a Practicing American
Just like being a disciple of your chosen spiritual path or religion or an artist or working at any profession, being an American takes practice. But the question is what are we practicing? What is particular to being an American? For those of us that were born and grew up in the USA might have a hard time identifying the particulars are that make up being an American.
Immigrants to the USA have a fresher perspective on the topic because they can compare the USA to the country they have just migrated from. Coming into the country from somewhere else gives a fresh perspective and almost all of us have immigrant roots.
According to new immigrants to the USA, learning English and a strong work ethic are critical elements of becoming an American. 80% of immigrants surveyed agree that: "The United States of America is a unique country that stands for something special in the world" They also say…
"having more opportunity to earn a good living,"
"Everybody wants to come here,"
"It's the land of opportunity."
"to make a better life"
"to have a brighter future for my children."
"having a legal system you can trust"
"In the U.S., they go by the laws.
”You can be whatever culture you are, whatever religion you are, freely."
Now That I'm Here, a new poll of America's Immigrants
Being an American is a state of mind. But it is also the peace of mind of having a general sense of Law and Order, Opportunity, a Future, Stability, Freedom to be who you are or want to become, a fair and free vote - a system that the citizenry has an opportunity to voice an opinion to some extent through who we choose to represent us and a bureaucracy made of non-partisan fellow citizens performing basic services for the general public hopefully in an efficient way. Infrastructure to do the big projects that serve our ability to function. There are all of the agencies of experts, intelligence and security services, and the military, the best in the world. It is a complex well-developed system that depends on all of us and serves all of us.
Once considered, it is a lot to be thankful for and really, to be amazed at, taken as a whole. Is it perfect? Of course not but it is always a work in progress attempting to be the best it can be for our mutual benefit.
One of the main things about being an American is accepting the idea of unity through diversity - E pluribus unum - Latin for "Out of many, one" This is one of the single greatest strengths of the American ideal. To practice this is a matter of accepting, even embracing that all of us in our diversity of ideas, conditions, attitudes, cultures, languages, colors, clothing, styles, economic conditions, education, skills, peculiarities, quirks, biases, dreams, fears, allegiances, etc. have a place in the whole picture, a voice and a purpose to serve for the community.
Though it has a pernicious and perennial history in this country, there are certain things that we would have to consider unamerican such as violence, hatred, bigotry, racism and all the rest of the negative traits that seem so difficult to prune out of the garden of our culture. But we - each of us - must keep trying, keep improving and keep our eye on our mutual ideals and do what we can to match up to those ideals through constant practice and inspire other to do the same through our self-discipled example. It is not a matter of being politically correct it is a matter of correct American conduct.
It is not an easy task to reach our ideals such as personal freedom. Freedom requires tremendous self-discipline and the understanding that for us individually to be free, we must confer freedom on our fellow citizens: Freedom of aspiration, of movement, of agency, of safety and the peace of mind that comes with an understanding of mutual respect of each other’s dignity and self-determination. Freedom is a group project.
This year vote Democrat up and down the ballot. Enough bullshit. Let’s get some shit done.
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Lovely. And recently, two people I know have chosen to become American citizens! They give me hope and humble me - for my privilege to complain and work at helping my country “live up to its ideals.”
Great article. I'm a first generation American. My parents immigrated from Germany back in the late 40s; my father was a survivor of Auschwitz. So I feel such gratitude to be an American and living a life of freedom even though some politics have tried to stifle that freedom. While it feels overwhelming when I witness the unfairness and tragedies of issues of our planet, I try to locally help those I am able to in my own ways. I love our country with all her faults and problems as there's so much to feel thankful for as well as a lot of beauty that does exist and some really good people here.