The Moment I knew I was an American...

    America. The country of opportunity. The country of hopes and dreams. The country of equality. But what makes an American?

  This week, we were asked to write about when we knew we were an American. I never really gave a second thought about this. Ever since I was little, I considered myself an American. Now, let me clear some things up. I wasn't BORN in the United States. I was born in Panama, the home country of my mother. When we came to the United States with my father (who was born here) I was just a couple of months old. The United States is my home, yet to some people, I am still an Immigrant. I was born with automatic American Citizenship because my father was born here.

 I've had incidents with people who consider my mom and me of "lesser" standard, because we weren't born here. One case in particular always stands out in my mind. When I was a little girl, my mom would walk me to school every day. While we were walking, there would always be a man standing near a corner and every day he would say things to us. They weren't nice things. He would tell my mom to go back to her country and to take me with her. He would say that America doesn't want us and we're corrupting the pure blood of "American Society." My mom would always walk right past him, holding my hand, not giving the man a second glance.
 
 One day, I asked my mom what the man meant and why didn't it hurt her. She looked at me and said, "America is my country. And it is your country as well. There is no such thing as "Pure Blood" because America is about diversity. That's what makes this country beautiful. Don't let anybody tell you that you are lesser than them. We all came here for the same reason; equality."

I guess you could say that from that moment, there was no doubt I was an American. But the real question is; What IS an American? And what makes one person more American than the next?