What Makes America Great?

I hear people saying it a lot: what makes American great? Let me tell you, it’s not a politician or celebrity. It’s all the hard workers that keep this dream of a better world alive.

Traveling across the country over this break was eye-opening. I looked out on the vast land once walked upon by our ancestors and wondered how they saw “Americans,” and what they dreamed the country would become. Other countries covet our freedom, something we take for granted. Where are we now, but left with selfish behaviors and tendencies from years and years of abusing this freedom?

As I looked out the car window on the road for hours, I saw all these people just like me. They all had somewhere to go and something to do. These are the people, in my eyes, that make America great. I’m talking about the underdogs. The people that live within their means. They are the everyday grinders -- folks like the farmers in the fields of Texas; those truck drivers on the roads; and the Navajo teachers and nurses working in the desert heat.

Motivation is everywhere around us if we simply open our eyes to what’s out there and use empathy in the process. So, now you ask me, “What makes America great?” I say it starts with you, and it continues with your legacy. Remember, you have one life; your American Dream doesn’t die until you do.