by Marsha Greyeyes

Created on: October 28, 2008

An individual can not define any one citizen as a true American, unlike defining an animal for example, a cat is a cat because it has certain features that define it as a cat through physical and mental abilities as well as its physical appearance, preferences and so forth.

Now, what is the definition of a true American? From the stand point of America's genocidal practices to its own indigenous nations and on to its pursueing of "global and international interests," it seems a true American is then the definition of greed. Who would then like to be defined as greedy? In thus so saying, I am not a true American, I am not a patriotic individual, I am only a citizen of the United States of America, pursuing a dream that I, as an individual would allow me to live comfortably...and then this is why I am an American.

Yet, is it my charteristics or is it my goals that make me the "American" I outlined? Am I a capitalistic individual who does not care about peace, love, harmony and the melting pot? Or is because I am already "melted" that what I think defines me as an "untrue American" really what makes me a true American?

From the stand point of a true American, the ideal true American, the person who flies the flag, who salutes it at every appropriate time, the person who wakes and lives for democracy, who has no qualms about the government or who is president and has no issues on what agenda this country is run on, or what war or battle themselves or their young sons and daughters are shipped off to... is a true American. Yet, for myself and others like me, since America is based on opinions, a right to free speech, then a true American is not a true American. The United States asks us to disagree, to state our opinions, to practice the right to free speech, but who listens? This is America, you listen to who you want to hear, hear what you don't want to listen to.

Then there is no true American, because a true American is an untrue American, who has qualms, who has opinions, who has their own set of beliefs about global and international relations, religious opinions, the local and national government, the president, their spouses, what to do with their children's lives, and pointing them in a direction that would ensure they form their own opinions, make up their own minds...to practice their basic rights.

In essence, America was not formed to define any one citizen as a true American, it was defined to make America a whole new world, even if some practices are unjust, to nullify this, definition has been discarded to make it a home to all who wish to pursue the Utopian American ideals and yet to never really achieve being American. To truly not be, is to truly be.

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