What Makes an American?

There has been a lot said lately about illegal immigrants, and it has left me to think just what is it that makes them less American than me.

So what exactly is it that makes an American, or a citizen of any nation for that matter. Is it simply the random chance of the origin of birth? Is it decided by this factor in conjunction with the color of one’s skin, the accent in one’s voice, and one’s firm grasp of the language of the land? Am I an American simply because I am a white man, fluent in the English dialect, who happened ,by luck of the draw, to be born in Bossier City, Louisiana? I would like to believe that what makes me a citizen of our great land is my love for this country and the ideals that it holds to. I know I may complain quite a lot about things that happen here and decision that are made. I have on more than one occasion uttered the phrase, "I am moving to Canada." But I know that my love for this land will always remain and I will die under the red, white, and blue.
So, should we as a country have an open door policy? Should everyone that wants to be an American be allowed to become one? Do we have a responsibility, in our effort to spread democracy, to allow individuals that live under a system that they deem unworthy to ours become citizens of our nation? Is someone that sneaks into this country, not to terrorize it, but to enjoy all the benefits that naturally born citizens enjoy a criminal? Do we send these people back to a government that might look unfavorably on them as deserters? Do I have any answers to these questions?

No, not really.

There is no simple answer, but I do know one thing. We should not look down on these peoples as thieves. I ask you to put yourself in their shoes, you look at America and see a land of opportunity, a land of freedom, a land of love, kindness, and tolerance. Wouldn’t you want to be there? These people in many case risk life and limb to escape and seek out freedom and opportunity. Is that not the very embodiment of American, or at least what we think America should be?

If you go to see an Ozzy Osbourne concert, you may get to see an event that is similar to our past immigration laws. People at these concerts try and try to get on stage with Ozzy. Security Guards are positioned all around the front of the stage and almost all the time they manage to stop the concert goers from getting on stage, but every once and a while someone gets through and makes it on stage with Ozzy. I saw this happen myself, and Ozzy's reaction. He threw his arm around the guy and let him sing part of a song with him and when the guy was ready he dived back into the crowd. That is a lot like what we have been doing. We guard our stage and stop most of the body surfers on their way up to our microphone and spotlight, but when one makes it. For the most part we throw our arms around them and let them mow our lawns and pick our fruit, sing in this democracy that we love. When they are ready, they dive back into the crowd they came from, which a lot of the time they do. But that does still leave the question, if they don’t dive back into the crowd, do we let them become part of the band?