Pride.   Sounds vain, doesn't it?  Well, not all pride is vain.  Some is earned. 

Take for example this great country of ours, the United States of America.  Our humble beginnings is something to be very proud of.  Let's take a little trip down memory lane to our very beginning as a nation.

In order to fully appreciate where we are and who we are, we have to understand where and who we were.  You may have heard some say this nation was built by immigrants.  That is false.  My proof?  The Declaration of Independence.  Read it some time.  It is very enlightening.

Let's take a good, hard look at that time period.  Settlers came to the new world in search of many things.  The French came for the fur trade.  The Spanish came to find gold or the Fountain of Youth (and, dang it, they didn't find the Fountain of Youth!).  There were Dutch and German and other smaller groups.  But the bulk of the settlers were British. 

It is commonly believed that the British settlers came to escape religious persecution but that was a minor reason.  If that had been their sole purpose for colonizing America, it wouldn't had been the Mayflower Compact that was signed.  It would have been the Declaration of Independence.  But the Declaration of Independence wasn't written for a few hundred years after the colonies were established.   So, what was the real purpose for these colonies to exist at all?  Economics.  Particularly, tobacco.  Yes, I said tobacco and, no, they did not have the benefit of the Surgeon General's warning.  To the British, it was green gold.  Easily grown and shipped overseas without refridgeration-and very profitable.  But it was profitable for the mother land, Great Brittain, not necessarily for the colonists who toiled in the fields.   Slavery is an issue for another post.  For now, let's focus on the colonists.

The British colonists weren't allowed to blink without permission from the British parliament.  With acts like the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, Quartering Act, Navigational Act, just to name a few, the colonists found themselves suffocated under heavy oppression.  After all, the colonies existed for one purpose and one purpose only; to serve the Mother Land.   Any attempt at self-sufficiency for the colonies was quickly squashed.  Great Brittain couldn't let the colonists fend for themselves because that would mean their cash-cow would dry up.  Hence, the strict...and constricting...acts in response to any grievance the colonists might voice.  It is not unreasonable to conclude that after a few hundred years of this practice, the colonists finally got fed up.  Enter the Declaration of Independence.

The Declaration of Independence gives us why we became a nation in the first place.  Our forefathers clearly spelled out their reasons for breaking ties with Great Brittain.  Please note that Great Brittain is the only country mentioned in that document.  Not France or Spain or any other European country.  However, what is not clearly spelled out in the Declaration of Independence is who signed that document.  Yes, of course you can look at the signatures and determine the name of the person but who was this person signing his name?  Just any ol' person?  Nope.  These signers were:

1.  White
2.  Males
3.  Native to well established British colonies
4.  Well-known and respected leaders among the people of the colonies
5.  Formerly British subjects/citizens under British rule
6.  Men who sacrificed everything: their homes, their wealth, their lands, their families, their lives, to pursue a very dangerous and uncertain vision of freedom
7.  Men who knew full well that if they failed, they would be hung as traitors to the crown-and the colonies would suffer horrible retribution.

And, yet, these men took risks at their own expense and at incredible odds against them to break off with Great Brittain for the good of the people in the colonies.

Wow!  That took guts!

Look at number 3-Native to well established British colonies.  Many of these man never stepped foot in Great Brittain itself.  That doesn't sound like an immigrant to me.  That sounds like a man who was born and raised in the colonies who knew what the colonists needed to survive-and was willing to fight for the colonies right not only to exist but to live in freedom.

Freedom.  Freedom of what?  Freedom to act however we please without consequences?  No, not exactly.  Even our forefathers understood that anarchy is not a good idea.  So, what freedom did they fight for?  The freedom to choose for ourselves, to succeed...or fail...on our own terms, to live without fear of our government, and to appreciate the sacrifices many have made in order for us to live free.  That is what being American means!  It is honor.  It is integrity.  It is character.  It is loyalty to this nation and those who have defended it. 

And it is pride.  But not a vain pride-an earned pride.  

The original colonists, the men who were brave enough to fight, to sacrifice their entire lives to this concept of freedom, these are the real builders of this nation.  They earned their right to call themselves American.  Yes, we can recognize and appreciate that non-whites contributed to the growth and prosperity of this nation.  There is no shame in that.  But there is shame when we Americans neglect our own true history and forget who and what we are.  To do so negates everything this country has accomplished in our relatively short history as a nation.   And it dishonors the original intent for forming this nation in the first place.  No, we are not perfect.  We never made that claim.  However, we aren't the world's worst country either.  It is time we all remember that.

I am not ashamed to call myself American.  Are you?