What is an American?

Usually, this word is used to describe a person living in the United States of America, but to a lesser extent is also be used to describe someone living in the Americas. But I don't think the second part of the definition is accurate as their demonym is just based on whatever country they are living in. 

Describing what an American is can be quite hard as we all come from different walks of life. There is no definition that really encompasses all "Americans". To add to that, I think the definition of what a true American varies according to who you ask. There are some stereotypes of what an "American" is. According to these stereotypes, an American is fat (morbidly obese, owns a gun or multiple guns, lazy, uncivilized, and is super patriotic. Do I agree with these? No. Most of these are inaccurate and doesn't truly show what an American actually is. An American can come from all parts of the world, speak different languages, and practice different religions. As Crevecouer said, America is a melting pot and not every American is a native to this country. There are over 300 million different Americans, most likely not one that is the same in terms of background and interests. We might all have different jobs or different views, but we are all bound under freedom and opportunity.

As Americans, we were either born here with some previous generations going through the legal process to get citizenships or are currently doing that. We or our ancestors came to this country looking for the highly valued freedom and opportunity that this country. We are able to speak our opinions without the threat of being prosecuted and are able to have a fair justice system that many countries may not have. But in order to have all of these perks of being an American, we have to be humble and not take for granted any of those perks that we got over almost 250 years ago after breaking free from the shackles of the British monarchy. An American needs to be open and accepting of other religions and ethnicities.

Nowadays in everyday occurrences, when someone asks what you are, we tend to say we are American but add a word or two in front of it. The reason why is that we want to be unique or to be more specific. Most everybody you meet on the street is American so just saying you’re American doesn’t make you unique or special anymore. That question has now transformed into asking what people’s ethnicities or background is and not just what country they are from. Back when this question was originally asked, the world was not as integrated and culturally diverse as we are now. In one country, there are now numerous ethnic groups.

An American, regardless of race or religion, is one who works hard in pursuit of happiness and a better life, values and cherishes their freedom and opportunities, impartial to other religions and ethnic groups, and is proud to be a citizen of the United States of America.