National pride missing from modern America

By MICHELLE JURKOVICH
Special to The Collegian

If you were asked today, “So (insert name here), what are you?” You might answer with the following: I’m Irish; I’m Mexican; I’m German; I’m Italian; well, I’m 25 percent Irish, 15 percent German, 37.5 percent Italian, two percent Polish, etc. etc. etc.

You probably would not, however, respond with, “I’m American.” Of course, you might say that this is obvious and thus unnecessary to repeat.

Our natural inclination to answer the “what are you?” question with a laundry list of countries we’ve never been to, that our great-great-great–great-great-grandfather may have lived in for part of his life, plunges deep into the core of a lack of identification that many Americans have with America.

Many of our families have been living in the United States for generations and yet many still find their patriotic pride rests outside of our borders. How long must you live in a country before you belong to it? Before you’re proud to say you are a part of it?

I’m not advocating some extreme nationalism or blind patriotism, and certainly not that we forget the cultural ties of our family. Family ties are important. Your past family culture is important. But the land that protects and feeds and supports you is too.

Even in America, Americans are getting the message that it’s not enough to be American, or that being American is not “cool.” We have freedom in this country — emerging freedom for women, religious freedom, an economy that allows for people to climb an economic ladder, and something that exists in few other countries I’ve seen: a police force and justice system that does not exist off bribes.

Being proud of what we have in America doesn’t mean turning your eyes from the dark, dilapidated areas in our politics and society; it simply means recognizing the fact that yes, we’ve got some really good stuff going for us in America. We do have a lot to be proud of.

I worry that our generation is listening too much to those that would say we should be ashamed of being American — that we are nothing more than an evil industrial power, or perhaps worse, that there is no identity in simply being American.

We all carry with us different cultures and different ties to foreign nations. Good. One of America’s greatest gifts is its diversity. May we always be a nation blessed with differences, and yet let’s first take pride in our unity as one people. Let’s first be Americans.