Heritage and an American Identity

When you hear my last name, Mirsky, you can tell that it is Russian due to the "-sky" ending. I have ancestors from Russia; even some that date back to the times of the Mongols (due to a DNA test, it showed that I have a very, very, very, very small percentage of Mongol in me [someone got raped]). I also have ancestors from Norway and the UK, mostly on my mom's side. They moved to the US in the 19th century to escape from religious persecution, converted to Mormonism, and moved to Utah in the early 20th century. More of my ancestors moved all over the US and the world, some ending up in Anaheim, California. When my mom married my dad, she decided to convert to Judaism. I'm not exactly sure why my dad's side decided to go into the US, but eventually they ended up in New York, some staying in Europe (about 10 died during the Holocaust). That is where my Jewish heritage comes, too. I think understanding where I come from and my genealogy is fascinating; my mom is almost addicted to it. However, I do not think it is important to identify as those nationalities because of one thing: if you are an American citizen, then you are an American. One thing I have noticed in our society is that people are starting to lose their American identity (the 2016 presidential election made me observant and I realized this). Let me explain my observation: people are starting to focus more on their heritage than their contemporary identity. To reiterate, people are starting to think of their race or heritage more than what it means to be an American. So, reader, I ask you to comment not about this post, but about this question: what does it mean to be an American? To me, it means that I live in the most unique, amazing country on Earth that delivers amazing opportunities to anybody that works for it; the American Dream, for example. In this election, and please respect my opinion, I particularly do not like Bernie Sanders not because he is a bad guy (I think he is a very nice man and would morally be good to the country), but because he wants to model this country off Denmark. Why? Well Denmark is pretty peaceful, its economy is doing well, and its socialist. However, look at the size difference between Denmark and the United States. Socialism cannot work in America, unfortunately, and 20 years ago, Bernie wouldn't be as far as he is because of his socialist goals.

I think diversity is definitely an important thing. It is definitely important to recognize in a community, but to strictly emphasize it is another story. Sage Hill definitely prides itself of its diversity, but I believe that its pride has turned into a rather negative affect. Why? When one consistently emphasizes diversity, it eventually segregates people. Ironic, right? Don't believe me? Think about it: when one says that we need to focus diversity, it segregates the Asians from the whites, Persians from the Asians, and so on and so forth. It puts people into racial categories. I think we need to stop focusing in terms to these racial categories, and like I said earlier, focus on what it means to be an American. Because, like it or not, we all live in America, and thus are Americans. So, in conclusion, we should classify as Americans, not white or black or Asian, but Americans. I know other states do not have this issue, and some races unfortunately do have a greater amount of privilege than others, but until we solve those problems, we still have to be Americans, and most importantly, we cannot be divided by opinions. Conservatives cannot be constantly attacking and disparaging liberals, and vice versa. We must learn to agree to disagree, and unite.

In conclusion, because I am not first-gen American, my influences come from my parents. My stress on focusing on our American identity rather than our racial identity comes from them. I mean, they grew up during the Cold War, and they were influenced by Ronald Reagan, the man that made the US win the Cold War. We must stop categorizing people and stop with constantly arguing; we must learn to agree to disagree, which also means eliminating political correctness; we must unite and be Americans. Individual heritages are definitely fascinating to know, but we cannot focus on our pasts; we must look at the present. We once might have been Irish, German, English, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, etc, but we are now Americans. Thank you for taking the time to read this, and again answer this question: What does it mean to be an American? Thank you.