What does it mean to be an American?

I think about this often. What does it really, at the core, mean to be an American?  And I wonder how different people might answer this question differently.

Does it mean being free?  does it mean being strong?  Does it mean being brave?  Does it mean being selfish?

Then I think about Henry Jordan and I realize what it means to be an American, and I want to say it loud and proud.

Being an American means never asking for yourself, a right or privlage you are willing to deny another.

Being an American means not demanding for yourself the right to marry, while denying that right to homosexuals.

Being an American means not demanding for yourself the benefit of the rule of law and due process, while denying that right to others.

Being an American means not demanding the right to pray in school for YOUR children, while denying that right to children of other faiths (or no faith).

Being an American means not demanding for yourself the right to speak, and denying that right to others.

Being an American means not demanding for yourself the freedoms given to us by the constitution, while denying them for others.

Being an American means not demanding life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for yourself, while denying those rights for others.

Being an American means not demanding for yourself fair treatment from others and the world, while you torture and denigrate and overthrow the covernments of others.

Being an American means never asking for ourselves, that which we are willing to deny to others.

That is what "American Values" means to me.

What do you think it means to be an American?

•  Who cares? Americans are just humans.

  They need to stop training themselves to be exceptions with questions like these.

  by ormondotvos on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 03:12:39 PM PDT

  •  Americans are humans...

    ...but not all humans value the same things. Different cultures, different priorities.

    I speak to the general "culture" (used lightly) of America and what I think it should value.

    by a dumb dreamer on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 03:29:06 PM PDT

    •  That would be the first thing to work on.

      Humans need to find out that they are humans, and much the same, and not have people teaching them their differences first.

      It's about priorities.

      by ormondotvos on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 05:02:04 PM PDT

      •  oh come on.

        That's NOT what I meant.

        by a dumb dreamer on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 05:02:41 PM PDT

•  Better question...What SHOULD it mean?

  To me, it should mean the freedom to live as one likes so long as no one is harmed, and the freedome to speak one's mind, especially dissent, without retribution.

  And abroad, to unconditionally share in the bounty we are lucky to have because of our birthright.

  by citizen53 on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 03:23:09 PM PDT

•  sounds like a good definition of a human being

  who happened to have been born on a piece of land on the planet that calls it itself America.

  by soccergrandmom on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 03:26:08 PM PDT

•  Republican Americans

  I think, unfortunately, in this historical moment, being American often means acting in a manner that will lead to you being derided as Unamerican by those who call themselves Americans when really what they are is something different altogether:  Republican Americans.

  So, a follow up question maybe reserved for this comment thread would be:

  What does it mean to be a Republican American.

  So we can know what we are not.

  by m00nchild on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 03:31:54 PM PDT