Unless you are Native American (remember them?), all the rest of us are immigrants to this great county. And yes, according to the laws of this country, if you are born here, you ARE an American. You stay an American till you renounce your citizenship. Whether you personally like it or not. Your personal animus towards John is coming more and more into focus. If you choose to continue your personal vendetta, take it to NPR. Even better, PM's.
Lyn
And actually even the Natives were not "native" to the North American continent. Humanity originated in Africa so we are all genetically linked whether that makes us uncomfortable or not. As for geographical borders and political systems and patriotic rah rah nonsense the fact of it is that some people win the "birth lottery" and happen to be born in countries with a better climate and thus have a better shot at a good and safe life. People don't ask to be born they are simply born and while their lives CAN play out in infinite ways it's pretty much established that for most people the arc of their lives is heavily influenced by where they were born and who they have as influences in their lives.
I was dirt poor as a child at times, spent my life in an out of foster homes, shelters, homeless living in a van, traveled the country many times before I was 14. No one on this forum needs to ever tell me what it means to be an American. I had a fairly tough childhood at times and didn't have a lot of prospects. But one thing I was lucky to be born as was as white American. I didn't know it growing up but being a white American gave me a certain advantage in the world. After traveling the world and meeting so many people from so many cultures I understand how lucky I was to be born a white American. I have never suffered any sort of discrimination, never been treated poorly because of my race and nationality, never been racially profiled, never been harassed or otherwise hassled because of my skin color. So I take being an American as a fortunate privilege that was gifted to me by fate.
I choose to use that status to be an example of what I feel an American should be, fair, upstanding, willing to speak out against injustice, wiling to lend a hand, willing to build what needs to be built, willing to fight for equal rights for all humans, willing to work hard for what I want but not willing to steal for it.
I was given this status by birth and I feel I have to honor that fortune by showing everyone I meet what being an American citizen is all about. I am not proud that my countrymen enslaved people, that my countrymen committed genocide against the indians and legal abuses against minorities. I am proud that my countrymen fought for freedom from tyranny, that they established a democratic republic with ideals worth preserving and that despite the horrific practices we once allowed we are as a people able to deal with them and try to make amends to continue towards the goals we set when establishing the United States of America. As an American I feel it's important to recognize our flaws as much as it is to celebrate our finest attributes. We thrive by constantly bettering ourselves as individuals AND as a nation.
That to me is what being an American is about. Anyone who thinks that being an American means building a wall around the country and shutting everyone else out and ignoring the rest of the world is foolish. America wouldn't even exist if it weren't for foreign aid to the fledgling nation and a two hundred year-old dependence on foreign immigrant labor.
This all goes so deep but the bottom line is we are all connected as human beings. My blood is your blood and yours is mine. We can compete and fight and kill each other but in reality we can't deny the fundamental truth that we are all born the same way, we all shit the same way, we all have sex the same way, we all are the same with just a different "theme" overlaid on the soul.
