What America Means To Me (Write On Challenge)

America means a place where people can fail or succeed as they wish if they work hard or get lucky. And if people need help, others reach out their hands. It is home. It is the red, white and blue flag. It is the glory of stars and stripes.

America is baseball instead of cricket; soccer instead of football, football instead of rugby. America is of the people, by the people, for the people. America is Memorial Day Parades, Labor Day Picnics and sales on the Friday after Thanksgiving. It is hot dogs, mom and apple pie.

America is jazz, grunge and urban soul. It is Spielberg, Scorsese and Tarentino. America is dressing up in green for St. Patrick's Day, eating spaghetti on Columbus Day and drinking beer in October. It is whining about taxes, voting in elections and serving on jury duty. America is the Pledge of Allegiance, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence.

America is flying to the moon, curing Polio, releasing prisoners from Nazi death camps. It is also a lot of other things that aren't so nice like censorship, wiretaps, inept hurricane clean up, voter fraud, hungry children in poverty, people in jail without due process, Abu Graib, crack cocaine, No Child Left Behind, and gang violence to name a few. But we can fix those problems if we get half a chance.

That's what America means to me.