U.S. History Assignment One

What Does It Mean To Be American?

Every country in the world has special traits that make them unique, and enable them to proudly say, "Yes I am French," or "I'm a proud Australian!" The question posed is asking what it means to be American, but the real question is what "American" is.
The politically correct answer would be this: "A person who is born or becomes a citizen of the United States." (wordnet.princeton.edu) However, the "making" of an American is much more than citizenship.
The typical American is not hard to miss when placed in a foreign country. If there is one thing that is to be said about how Americans act, it is that they have a sort of arrogance about them. Carlos Mencia, a Latin-American stand-up comedian, once made a joke about how the United States spent thirty-million dollars to invent a pen that could write in space, while Russie simply used a pencil. His explanation as tho why the U.S. went through all the trouble of creating a space-writing pen is that Americans are the best, and "we want to go to space in style." Mencia himself is a great example of a proud American.
It's hard for a person to say that they're the best at what they do without being faced with an argument that they'll most likely lose. Americans simply resolve this issue with the answer "Because we are," and that is the pride and arrogance that most Americans carry, adn that is what I believe makes a true American. So what does it mean to be an American? It means to be proud of living in America and the history behind it that makes it so great. It means to not be ashamed of what our country has done to achieve it's greatness. Thats what it means to be American.

In all honesty, I bullshit most of this. LOL. Shhh, don't tell Mrs. Aceret.