What is an American?

I have always been a true, prideful American. I have always sent the good aspects of being an American citizen and have always been well aware of the great advantages of the privilege of being born and growing up as an American. On the other hand, I have also been well aware to the obvious downside to America being such an open country. Because of this, after reading the assigned texts from class, my perspective and definition of what an American is has not changed.

The two main passages that my opinions most related to were Lazarus’ “The New Colossus” and Aldrich’s “Unguarded Gates.” I relate to both of these with my thoughts and opinions, which is why my definition of an American has not changed. When I read “The New Colossus,” I had such a feeling of comfort and pride for the fact that I’m an American. I am so fortunate to be apart of a country that is so accepting and hopeful for people to live an amazing life with nobody ruling over them and controlling their every move. Many lower fortunate countries have to deal with being told what to wear, where to work, how many kids to have, whom they can marry, and how much money they should make. Sometimes we naturally take advantage of what we are so fortunate to have, because it’s what we are used to. Sometimes I don’t realize the greatness of freedom. It’s such an irreplaceable privilege. I think one of the greatest aspects to America is that people from all over the world hope and dream, to come to America because of how accepting we are and what we have to offer. People come to our country to “live the American dream!”

On the opposing side, I can also somewhat relate and agree with Aldrich’s opinions. Because America is so accepting and welcoming, sometimes bad people enter our country that have bad intentions and only want to corrupt our country. Some have definite alterior motives than to just find a better life for themselves and their families. It makes me question the way our country operates sometimes when certain events happen, like the September 11 tragedy for example. That kind of event makes me question if we should be stricter with our acceptance policy of immigrants. Accepting the wrong person or people into our country could potentially be a recipe for disaster if we’re not careful.

-Morgan Willis