Have you ever had the feeling that you were born at exactly the right time?

Or that all your life experiences have gelled together and it is suddenly making perfect sense to be living right here, right now?

As a daughter of immigrant parents who suffered under both Nazi and Communist rule, I have had an overwhelming sense lately of “been there, done that.” The only difference—and I’m beginning to think it’s a huge difference—is that I was born and raised in America.

America is young and has never seen a power grab like we just witnessed during this past election.

My ancestors have. In fact, all of American ancestry has but many are too far removed to truly understand how history has a tendency to repeat itself. I, for one, was raised by those who experienced it all in great detail and had the privilege of learning about it first hand as I visited Communist Czechoslovakia throughout my childhood.

So knowing what I know from those who lived it and being raised in a country that made freedom its number one priority, I can tell you with all my heart, that even though America is in trouble right now, it can and will prevail. Here are five reasons why:

Americans are arrogant.

Ask anyone outside of our borders and they will all agree. Americans believe they are great whether they have a reason to be or not. The fact is, Americans count on the right to be whoever they want to be and that is a kind of arrogance that will serve us well right now. No one tells us what to do—period—end of story.

Americans don’t buy into shame.

Some people outside our borders may argue that we don’t feel a healthy sense of “guilt” either but that simply isn’t true. We know right from wrong, we just don’t confuse behavior with our essence. We understand that bad choices don’t make bad people, just human beings with inalienable rights.

Americans embrace freedom.

Some may say we embrace freedom to an extreme, but overall, the American dream is a concept one creates, rather than one is born into. America is whatever you want it to be. We embrace diversity, therefore, “political correctness” is a product of a long history of living in a melting pot of races, cultures and traditions. No one thing defines us because we are all things to a whole lot of people—we each get to choose what that means for us as individuals, as well as a country.

No one puts an American in the corner.

We are bold in our beliefs and speak those beliefs without hesitation. We learn from our mistakes and never give up hope. We will never cater to anything that tries to deny us those rights. It’s simply not in our nature.

Americans never run from a challenge.

From day one, Americans understand that this land is like no place else in the world. We see ourselves as special, not because of what we have but because of what we create. We create because we are free to experiment. We advance because we don’t see any other way but forward. We win because, at the end of the day, we are simply incapable of seeing ourselves in any other light. We may have become complacent over the years but nothing gets an American going more than having their rights and freedoms threatened by an internal or an external force.

We live to be great and we will settle for nothing less.

The fight of our lives is ahead of us and I guarantee that all Americans everywhere will unite and fight for what we see as America’s greatest gift—freedom to be whoever we want to be.

Look out world.

We won’t let you down, we will show you how it’s done!

~
Author: Vera Snow

Image: Wiki Commons / Public Domain

Editor: Molly Murphy