[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 14697-14698]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



           ARE YOU AN AMERICAN? THOUGHTS FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY

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                           HON. JIM McDERMOTT

                             of washington

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 29, 1999

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, while participating in the recent 
Memorial Day observance at Veterans Memorial Cemetery in my District, I 
was privileged to hear an inspired essay about what it means to be an 
American. This essay was composed and presented by Elizabeth [Liz] 
Bokan, a student at Washington Middle School in Seattle. Many of us in 
the audience were deeply moved by Ms. Bokan's eloquence. Her words lend 
us confidence that our future as a nation is in the good hands of 
enthusiastic and creative younger generations.
  Mr. Speaker, many of us will celebrate Independence Day by 
participating in naturalization ceremonies, helping to welcome new 
citizens to our ranks. I proudly offer Ms. Bokan's essay to all my 
colleagues as we return to our districts to renew the bonds that hold 
us together as a nation this July 4th.

                          Are You an American?

       Are you an American? Ask yourself this, and you come upon 
     the easy answer, well yes, I am an American, as I am a 
     citizen of America. But I ask you, is there not more to being 
     an American? And how does a true patriot respond to pressure 
     on one's beliefs, while maintaining the presence of mind that 
     is characteristic of being an American?
       In my school, I have been taking a class on American 
     History. The truth will always hurt, no less in the sense of 
     what this country great. I have learned of battles fought, 
     and unnecessary blood spilled, and to what cause? Yet reading 
     these texts, and seeing these illustrations of great American 
     heroes, one thing seems to shine through. The pride 
     individuals appear to hold in their home, in their title, and 
     in their love for themselves and their people. Does that not 
     signify that

[[Page 14698]]

     these people were very much Americans? But does each and 
     every person have to measure up to the incredible genius of 
     Abraham Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin simply to be called an 
     American?
       We are by name the country that accepts the unwanted of 
     other societies; the Statue of Liberty asks for the sick and 
     poor of the rest of the dismal world to travel to America, 
     the land of the free. It is said that we have lost our 
     charity, and our openness to the rest of the world's 
     outcasts, and yet do we not open our lives and hearts to the 
     immigrants that come to us searching for a better life, for 
     the ``American Dream''? One of the magics that is America is 
     the diversity of culture, accepting any and all customs, and 
     yet still adopting them as valid Americans.
       We have known what it is like to be the underdog, we have 
     felt the ridicule of the rest of the world, and the pressures 
     of an often losing struggle to overcome all odds, against us, 
     and we continue to offer our support to those who feel the 
     stress we felt, and more. And each and every one of those 
     people we bring in as our own call themselves Americans, yet 
     are they believed by the majority? In our society today, 
     there is great conflict on every issue that could possibly be 
     argued over, and people speak of the destruction of the 
     American spirit. Yet the fact being overlooked is that the 
     basis of the American way of life is within discord; we have 
     the American right to disagree. But that discord brings about 
     a people of accord, does it not? Through the wars fought and 
     the policies enacted, we have always agreed to disagree in 
     one way or another, and that leads to a harmony of the 
     people.
       But does an American necessarily have to be a hero, or a 
     recently discovered patriot? Think of the thousands of 
     soldiers whose names you've never heard, of the ones who have 
     died for this country in the last 200 or so years, and of 
     those who survived, who make sure these heroes can live on in 
     American hearts. Think of the average working citizens, those 
     who hold strict morals for themselves and those around them, 
     who live their lives maybe raising a farm and a family. These 
     people proudly call themselves Americans, and we believe 
     them. Why? The truth is, Americans are people who will die 
     for their country, who will stand up for their rights and 
     those of the oppressed. Sure, it may be done with fear in 
     their hearts, but is fear not also an American standard? We 
     thrive on it, and have never felt the need to deny ourselves 
     of it. The people we embrace and those who do the embracing 
     are Americans. It is a state of mind to be an American, it is 
     a love and joy in our freedom. I am an American, and if I 
     could, I would tell the world, but it is enough to know that 
     I can, I have the right to, and that absolutely no one can 
     stop my love of the American spirit which I call my own.

     

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