Heritage From Other Countries example essay topic

What is an American? Well that sounds simple, anyone with citizenship of the USA. But the problem with that answer is that nearly all of these citizens are just Americans by legal papers. The roots of Americans almost never originate from this country, or really even this continent.

Thus, these citizens are really from other countries. When all of these people of separate cultures and ancestries combine, then we get Americans. Therefore, America is a melting pot of cultures. What really makes an American is the fact that they have heritage from other countries, but live here amongst other people with other separate backgrounds. An American is one who adds their component to our great melting pot. In many countries, one's ancestry has never left the boundaries of that country for centuries.

Generation after generation, they stay as one homogeneous race and never change or see other cultures. However, the situation in America is that there is no "age-old American culture". There are no American-styled rugs or American-style leather dress shoes. Anything we have as a culture is from all of our citizens' backgrounds fused together. For example, much of our choice in clothing comes from France. One could literally visit Paris and see what our clothing will resemble in a decade.

Nearly all of the meals we eat are recipes that were invented long ago in other countries that our ancestors brought over. America doesn't have a race of people that defines our country. When one thinks of people from Korea, they would only imagine Eastern Asians. India has they " re own defined race of people, as do North African countries, Russia, and so on. Our race is a blend of all of theirs. All of the races in America live amongst each other, go to work together, go to school together, and even enjoy pastimes such as golf together.

Although America is an assortment of other cultures, we have come together as a whole and developed some aspects of culture that we share as "American culture". Fast food, baseball, football, jazz, and rap are all examples of this. However, many of these things really have roots from other places. Fast food hamburgers originate from Germany, baseball comes from England's cricket, and so on. We took things from other cultures and attempted to put our own twist on it.

I personally do not know my heritage very well. I do know that around 1/32nd of my background is Native-American, meaning almost my entire heritage is from elsewhere. Since I am from the south, it would seem likely that my origins are from farmers that came over from Europe, but this is a guess. This makes me a complete mutt in the sense that members of many different backgrounds came together to make up my heritage. Odd enough this makes me no less of an American. I am just like every other American, a huge combination of backgrounds.

I could go to China, live there, pursue a career there, and develop a group of friends there. However, not a single person would ever even think of considering me as "Chinese". Here, I am an American because my background is so blended that it most of it is not known. Even though Americans might all be very different, we still stick together and form one proud nation. Exactly 2 years ago, an enormous tragedy struck our country in a horrific terrorist attack. Rescuers risked and even gave their lives to help out other Americans.

Our country was in shock instantly. But when this shock wore off, we were left with a massive loss. However, we got through these times as a collective, cohesive country. Almost every citizen put up an American flag on their houses, cars, boats, or even workplaces.

We stuck together and supported each others' loss and then, as a country sent out to hunt down those responsible for the attack. Then, as our troops were out searching for the terrorists, we kept up our flags and added signs that said "Support Our Troops". This incident proved how strongly united we are as a country, even though we are all so different. An American means so much even though it is just one adjective to use to describe someone.

It describes someone who is a member of a blend of other people with different heritages and different cultural backgrounds. It describes someone who doesn't let these many differences hold them back from loving and uniting with their other fellow citizens to form one well-bonded country.