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If you were assigned find all "Americans," you would encounter great difficulty because this nation displays such overwhelming diversity. We came here from everywhere else in the world, and we may become Americans either by birth or by choice. Our history is clouded by war and by prejudice, but "true" Americans will stand out in ways others do not.

Americans from the Beginning

People came here from Great Britain and Europe in order to escape conditions in their birth countries that were intolerable. Arriving on these shores in the 16th and 17th centuries, they wished and worked for a better life for themselves, and hoped for more for their children. They, politically speaking, were the first Americans.

Those we call "Native Americans" deserve to be called American by positional superiority, since they preceded other arrivals by perhaps twenty thousand years. Their conversion in the political sense was anything but gentle, so they usually take issue with the concept of "voluntary" Americanization.

Nonetheless, in your search for "true" Americans deserving of the title, some of the players have been identified. Are there others we ought to include?

If we are completely honest, to be an "American" may mean something else on the other side of the world. Our nation's reputation and presence among other cultures is important in defining what may be "true." In fact, Canadians sometimes wonder whether the world forgets they, too, identify as Americans.

Who Are the Other Americans?

Hamid, who owns the convenience store and gas station a couple of blocks away, was naturalizedbecame a citizen through action of lawfive years ago, and he loves this country like few others. Why? His struggle to reach these shores and to learn how to fit in cost him and his family dearly, so he knows the face of democracy first-hand.

Georg and Ingrid, an elderly couple formerly of East Germany, were naturalized twenty years ago. They found life in their country difficult and dangerous, and they longed for a better future, so they pulled up stakes and came to the United States. Their struggles since that time have revolved mainly around honing their English and making many friends in the community. They are very committed to the notion that America has great potential for the future, and they are active in community groups seeking to realize that potential.

Many others not born on this soil call America home now. Are they "true" Americans? That all depends on how you view the life of a committed and

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