American...or not?

America is in trouble. Once we were a country united. Now we’re a country of White American’s, Black American’s, Hispanic Americans, Asian American’s, Muslim American’s, Japanese American’s... You name it and each race singles themselves out as separate from the whole.
Rather than being just good old fashioned American’s, everyone has to point out their differences. Their allegiances are divided between this, their home, and countries most have never so much as set foot in.

Some who have come here, to America, in an effort to escape the ugliness and violence in the countries of their birth, refuse to embrace the American lifestyle, preferring instead to cling their ’heritage’ and all of its customs, clothing styles and languages for all they’re worth.
It’s almost like they’re saying America is their second choice. The place they’ve had to settle for and they’re not going to do anymore than they have to in order to be here.

I’m sorry but I find that extremely offensive.

Much has been written about people who came from foreign lands, eager to immerse themselves in the American lifestyle. They couldn’t wait to learn the language, to talk like ’us,’ to dress like ’us,’ to be American’s.

Now it’s more important to set themselves apart.

And that, in my opinion, is a big part of the reason that America seems to be falling apart at the seams.

We’ve abolished slavery, given women rights and are making great strides in eliminating discrimination. But for what purpose?

All I see is a nation that seems to be striving for division rather than unity.

And I think our forefathers would turn over in their graves if they could see what’s become of the United States they fought to give us. The United States so many have lost their lives defending.

Is heritage important? Of course it is. We should celebrate who we are, who are ancestors were and let our children know where we’ve come from. But we should stress that everyone living within the borders of this great country, legally anyway, is first and foremost an American.

Stop minimizing what that means by adding to it.

If you’re an American, be an American. If that’s a problem for you, then maybe you need to think about whether you really want to call this place your home.

The United States doesn’t just refer to a huge of piece of land separated by invisible boundaries. It refers to every individual living on that land and within those boundaries.

One Nation under God.

One nation, not many separate nationalities fighting to hold on to their past, all living under the umbrella of laws created to protect the rights those who do feel privileged to be here.

Stop making America your second choice. Stop trying to make America in to something different than what it was intended to be.

I don’t know about you, but I’m not anything but a good old fashioned American. I’m not a German,/French/Canadian American. Or any of a host of other nationalities that may be in my lineage. I don’t care where my great, great, great grandparents came from. All I care about is that they arrived here and, because they did, I’m living in the greatest country on the face of the earth.