My Collective Identity

Each individual has a set of characteristics that make them unique. Many of these characteristics can be attributed to one’s collective identity, which is an expression of who you are and often originates from a person’s culture or ethnicity. A collective identity can encompass many social groups or organizations ranging from the church you attend to the sports team you cheer for. By participating in different groups, one soon begins to act similar or practice customs to create an identity. I, like many, have multiple identities that create my special collective identity. Four of my favorite identities are being a passionate Christian, a proud American, a dedicated student at the University of Iowa, and a loyal St. Louis Cardinals baseball

I come from a long line of Christians who believe in the power of prayer and living life with god’s presence. Growing up, my parents required me and my siblings to attend church every Sunday in our best clothes. . After church, we attended Sunday school to learn about the teachings of the lord and to be thankful for all that we have been blessed with in our lives. This identity has created many of the values that shape my life today including treating all people with respect, to love and care for everyone, to always be honest and never lie, and to forgive others. Some of the practices I can attribute from my faith are regular church attendance, praying to god, and confessing my sins so I can be forgiven. My faith is very important to me and has given me not only a purpose, but a way to live my life. My faith provides me with inspiration to be the kindest and best person I can be by donating my time to help others. I do this by volunteering at many charity events and helping my friends and classmates with school work. My faith is a constant reminder of how I can not only help people, but also live my life serving the lord. A group that is apart from Christianity is secularism in which people are atheistic or nonreligious. As a Christian, we do not look down on their views. We respect them, but as a universal religion, we try to appeal to them and would like to have them share in our love of the

I have been an American citizen since the day I was born and raised in the heart of America, the Midwest. My ancestors traveled to America from Germany in the early 1900’s in pursuit of better opportunities and settled in Iowa due to the fertile soil and the opportunity to farm the land and raise livestock. Being a citizen of the United States and having an American identity means a great deal to me because American is the land of the free and the country of endless opportunities. This has helped to foster my belief that if you work hard, you can achieve high personal goals in this great nation. I want to be a Dentist and this high goal has motivated me to study and work hard in school so that I can pursue this career path. Being an American has also given me the value of free speech and democracy. In this great nation you can stand up for what you believe in and have the opportunity to vote. Unfortunately, many countries do not have this same privilege, so Americans are fortunate. An identity that is apart from America is radical terrorist groups that do not like our freedom, democracy, religion, or how we conduct our daily lives. These terrorist groups are extremely dangerous and as Americans we do not respect them and know we must keep our country safe from them and their ideology. I am very fortunate to be living in such an amazing country that has one of the highest high gross national