Speaking Urdu at home, watching television shows from the other side of the world via satellite, eating Pakistani/Indian food, these traits are not usually associated with your typical American. I am an immigrant from the nation of Pakistan, and my family chose to immigrate to the United States. Our shift to this country may be uninteresting to the average person, however most people do not ask themselves the question: Why do immigrants choose America as the best place to immigrate? How come most people on the Indian subcontinent dream of becoming an American citizen and residing within our borders? It is because America stands out from the rest of the world as a country that readily accepts new people onto its land. Epitomized by the words written on the Statue of Liberty, people from other nations see America as a land that has copious amounts of opportunity and the ideals set aside by its Founding Fathers.

I am proud of the fact that this country rewards those who work and strive for a goal. In America, a person always has hope for improvement in the future. One can start out in a low level position, but the opportunity exists for advancement. This is the American Dream; to begin with little and ascend to more than enough. Absolute freedom exists in any opportunity one can think of. One of my substitute teachers told me that the word "American" is special, because it has "I can" at the end. This may sound trite, but it sums up the attitude of America. America believes that it can be a good nation to its own citizens, and to citizens around the world.

The most important reasons which make me proud to be an American are the virtues and creeds which are written in the Constitution by our Founding Fathers. In America, people are free from persecution from whatever they choose. Whatever type of style they like to write in, whatever religion they practice, whatever they have to say, all of it is allowed and people can do so without repercussion. All of this is summarized by the foremost 1 st Amendment. This is why I am proud to be an American. The idea that, regardless of what a person says, writes, or practices, he is considered an equal amongst everyone else and cannot be discriminated against.

These are the reasons why I am proud and joyful to say that I am an American, and always will be. America is a nation that stands out from the rest of the world, in nearly all aspects one can think of. But its greatest attribute is not its science, military, or citizens; it is a simple thing known as Freedom.