America is “considered” to be a land of opportunities, promises, independence, hope, and freedom.
The poor have little to no chance to get richer, while the rich remain rich.
America has always been characterized as the land of dreams and opportunities.
Immigrants entering America took these characterizations to heart.
The dreams and aspirations of stable, wealthy, and happy lives in America became known as the “American Dream”.
The basic idea of the American Dream generally has stayed the same throughout time, although the majority of Americans seem to take the Dream for granted.
The first settlers arrived to the New World in search of a treasure: life, liberty, and freedom.
This treasure was and still is the American Dream. Now people from all over the world come to America in search of the same Dream; some even die trying. People were not as materialistic as people are now; they just wanted happiness.
As time passed, people became more materialistic and began to take for granted what they were born with. However, the “American Dream” hardly ever turns out like any individuals have anticipated.
America is often considered as the “best country” in the world, but behind this façade, many people struggle daily to earn enough money to survive.
America has had its times of despair and advances but through it all we have learned new ways, cultures, and overall advancements in life.
Throughout the American Ways book we were given to read and analyze, there were many things about American life that not only related to now but also showed us lessons learned and conflicts repeated through time.
To myself and maybe others, the pieces presented to me in class had the ability to bring me into another world.
In each piece, I was almost warped to a different time of America and had the ability to see many things.
One thing I would like to compare is not only the trillion changes and differences we have made from those times to now but the common sense of diversity that has lurked our environment for decades and decades.
Diversity can be broken down in some pieces of life including heritage, religion, race, color, and overall culture.
Different cultures and civilizations have been the reason we have succeeded in this world and advanced to where we are now, yet they also have caused many wars and conflicts with each other.
When immigrants came to America, people have become very sensitive to the language used to describe racial and ethnic groups, and they try to be politically correct, for example, some black Americans prefer the term African-American instead of black to identify with their African heritage.
Through the pieces we see people treated as outcastes for their beliefs, groups evicted from society because of different religions, men trying to take the position of God and ridicule every mistake and sin made, and lastly mere differences in color causing people to be enslaved.
The United States is a nation full of millions of different types of people. However, each of those people has one major thing in common; they are all Americans.
Many people wonder what it takes to be a true American, but the answer is something not so difficult to determine.
Essentially, being an American means to show patriotism and pride of the country, to be very fortunate compared to other countries, and unfortunately, to show a lack of appreciation for all the great things America provides.
An American is one who shows pride and patriotism in the United States.
Throughout history, the US has reached many high and low points; from the Revolutionary War to the current Iraqi conflict.
However, true Americans are the people who stood strong and supported America through all of its struggles which therefore leads to being grateful for this country.
People affected by the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001 is an example of how these people realize now how important that day was and changed their view on America forever.
All Americans and probably most people around the world, can remember exactly what they were doing at the moment they heard that terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center and The Pentagon.
People in New York Cirt and Washington, D.C were especially devastated.
No matter how liberty and freedom are defined, America and its people have always prided itself on being founded on their principles.
Looking back at the founding of America , slavery, Civil War, emancipation, reconstruction, and the times following all the way through today I would say everyone should ask, is liberty truly the American Way?
Since I have not yet taken American History, i had to look outside this weekeend readings about American Way of Life and i found many intresting things about America, and i didn't really understand American Way till now.
There are many different people living in this world with different culture diversity, and ways of making a living.
American are one of these countries with different cultures and different ways of living.
Living life in American is more unique from other countries.
First of all, living life in American is easier then any other countries as far as I know.
Everyone works together and helps out one another. When family is going through times of hardships the other families will step in to help, until they can survive and stand on their own feet.
When immigrants come to America not only do they bring their families they bring their culture too.
Historically, although the children of immigrants may have grown up bilingual and bicultural, for a nubmer of reasons many did not pass on their language of the old country and are simply American by culture.
The culture of every ethnic group is beautiful in its own way and worth cherishing.
Today, America is known as the great melting pot not for the number of immigrants it has but rather because of the wonderful cultures and traditions the immigrants brought with them.
Immigrants do not need to forgo their mother tongue, significant celebrations or customs to become American. However to be socially accepted, they will need to learn English, take part in celebrating national holidays and fulfill their patriotic duties Americans like every other U.S citizens.
It is important for immigrants to learn to speak and write in English while keeping their native tongue. Without knowing how to speak the common language here, it is impossible to blend in.
However, it is not to say that immigration is always a good thing. Perhaps the first challenge facing those people is language barrier and cultural difference.
Another foreseeable adverse effect is that they might lose their cultural identity.
This is because immigrants, especially their decedents, will be affected by the culture and customs in the countries where they live.
So they are less likely to follow the previous lifestyles.
In conclusion, it is a tendency for people to seek better lives by moving around. So generally, migrating to other countries, most of the time, will bring benefits. paintBut adverse effect cannot be neglected.