Defining America

America has a unique spot in the world. There are those who see America as a beacon of freedom and there are those who see her as the great Satan. One thing unique about America is that people in other countries can come to America and become American but you cannot go to France and become French nor travel to Germany and become German. Our country is the land of opportunity, and our people are the most productive in the world. America is there to aid, support and protect other countries in order to achieve world peace for all nations. We are more aware of the great freedoms and rights we enjoy than our duties. I believe America is a place where people from different backgrounds can come together and agree to disagree. It is the land of the free and the home of the brave and we will fight to protect that. We have the highest amount of usage of most household items but we produce nearly one third of the world’s goods and services.

America leads the world in many areas—not all positive. For example, America has the highest divorce rate in the world with about 6.2 per thousand a year (Monthly Labor Review). I believe we save too little and spend too much. We work real hard and when we achieve our goal, we automatically want more. This is the hunger found deep down in millions of Americans. I think the people of our nation need an independent feeling or a feeling that they can go anywhere at anytime. The Department of Energy in the year 2000 reported that the percentage of U.S. households with three or more vehicles was 18.3%. If we put that in perspective to other nations who in many cases have only 1 vehicle per 5 or 6 people we recognize what fine things we have. Religion plays a large part in our society. A study by Pew Global Attitudes Project shows 59% of us believe in religion and the important role it plays in our daily lives.

Some people, including myself, believe the faster paced we become the more we forget that our Founding Fore Fathers encouraged us to help our neighbors and ourselves rather than relying on the government. Benjamin Franklin once said, “When you’re good to others, you are best to yourself.”

The U.S. Military’s budget in 2003 was $399 billion dollars as reported by the Center for Defense Information. The United States of America has the greatest military in the world, with this comes great responsibility. We cannot go to war without a just cause and it is not in our history to use force for evil purposes such as genocide or conquering other lands. Our government has come to the aid of many nations, liberating Europe and Japan during World War II and more recently Iraq. Often we are expected to bail everyone else out. In some instances we are criticized for not acting sooner or acting at all like after the 1993 tragedies of the millions of Rwandan’s who were murdered.

I believe The United States of America has a huge “burden” on its shoulders and we must continue to be the warm, compassionate, good natured people our Fore Fathers wanted us to be. There are many events in which molded the American way of life and the American image in people’s eyes. That’s why there is not just one way to define America but rather 293,027,571 unique definitions.