I Am an American

After watching a 60 second video/commercial of different ethnicity groups saying 4 small words with big meanings, I have written a reflective essay on what "I am an American" means to me.

The video on “I Am an American” reflects on me, because I too am an American. I was born in the United States and that makes me a United States Citizen. The U.S. accepts people all of nations from all around the world no matter the skin color, age, gender, religion etc. People from different ethnicity and backgrounds can also consider themselves Americans, because they have taken the oath, and have pledge an allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and have became Naturalized Citizens. The only difference between these people and me is that I can actually run for the office of the President of the United States of America, whereas they cannot. To become a U.S. President you have to be a born American.

What America means to me is freedom and a land of opportunity. America has freedom of speech allowing us to speak our mind freely without being penalized for it. In some countries, people are punished for speaking up, but as an American, I have a voice to be heard. America gives me the opportunity to grow and do what ever it is that I want. I can become who ever I want and take on a profession that I like. I am also allowed to choose my party affiliation by voting and go through a peaceful election process. This means we have a democratic form of government where the government is elected by the people. In America, the people’s vote counts.

I enjoy the advantages I have living in America. Nevertheless, many people take for granted what we have in America and do not realize there are people who are less fortunate than we are. Compared to the way of life in other countries, America is like a paradise filled with mansions and treasure.


For example, living in Africa is very difficult due to the lack of money and support from the government. They have a corrupt government and parents must pay for their children to go to school, but in the U.S., school is free. It is more of a privilege than it is an opportunity to get an education in Africa. Families are living in over crowded homes where there are twenty people or more living in a single room shack. The water system is very unhealthy, because they must fetch their water from underground or wells and the water is not clean at all. Drinking the water may lead to deaths caused from infections, diseases and diarrhea. There are much more hardships that people in Africa face everyday that Americans do not. This is why I am glad I am an American.

In essence, I am an American. I am living the American dream and following my destiny. By living in America and knowing what other countries do not have, I learned you should never take anything for granted. I have come to realize that there is no place like home, and I definitely love my home sweet home. Although I am given the choice to live, wherever I want in the world, I rather live in America and have it no other way. This is my life, and I can live it anyway I choose how.