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Show What is An American? By Ruth Taylor As always in a time of national crisis, the country is waking up to a realization of its "oneness". The same people who when asked what they were a few months ago proudly said "I am a New Yorker, York-er, a Calif ornian, a Kentuckian" now with one voice proclaim, "I a man American." But what is an American? If it were dependent upon birthplace alone, America would collapse as an over-heavy structure. If it were a mere matter of nationality, America would soon be one with Tyre and Sidon. Were it conditioned condi-tioned upon race, America would fall as did the Mongol Empire and all other countries founded upon racism. Anyone no matter of what race, nationality or color can be an American. Accident of birth does not make an American. And an American-by-choice wrongly called cal-led foreign born) is oftentimes a beter citizen than the native born or American by birth and frequently fre-quently more conscious of the importance im-portance and value of that citizenship. citi-zenship. To be an American is not just a matter of declaration it is a challenge to act. Like almost all things worth while, being an American Am-erican is not always easy. It means putting aside prejudice and intolerance. intol-erance. It means living so that not only has each individual an opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, but that he concedes freely to every other individual the same privilege. It means fighting not for one's own child alone but for all children being willing to give up for the good of others pioneering for progress pro-gress and prosperity for the people as a whole. If this yardstick were strictly used, we would perhaps find few Americanism but it would find the great mass of people working toward that end. To be an American is a thing of the spirit. It has nothing to do with birthplace, race, color or religious re-ligious beliefs. It is a creed in which to believe a standard by which to live, an ideal toward which to strive, a faith for which to die. And it is that spirit animating ani-mating its citizens which will make America endure. |