USA: The Land of the Individualism and Freedom

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Today, America has built a reputation for itself, earning titles like “The Land of Opportunity”, “The Melting Pot”, “The Home of the Brave”, and “The Land of Freedom”. Indeed, our proud nation has been praised by many nations for its precedent-setting nature since the original Thirteen Colonies broke away from England. What does it truly mean to be American? Is it to be able to speak your mind freely, no matter what? Or to be able to practice your own beliefs and religion without persecution? To be an American is to be able to express yourself as an individual. However, this trait has become rare since the advent of peer pressure and social media, where trending topics and styles are blasted into everyone’s lives. In the pursuit of individuality, Americans have subconsciously become a collective.
Americans take pride in their differences, whether those differences are in the color of their skin, the shape of their eyes, the length of their hair, the religion they practice, the native tongue they speak, or the nationality of their family. These variations are what make Americans American and have been deeply rooted in our young nation’s history. The Pilgrims, zealous Puritan members of the Separatist Church, left England for the New World in 1620 to discover a land where they could freely practice their faith without fear of persecution. In 1776, the Thirteen Colonies wrote the Declaration of Independence to free themselves from the unjust rule of the English monarchy. The Founding Fathers of our nation reasoned that they had to cut ties because of the unfair and controlling nature of the British government and that the colonists no longer consented to British rule, setting a clear precedent for the American rebelliou...

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...different and find his or her own niche in the giant box of clockwork we inhabit. The only way to survive in this world where a college degree and good finances matter most is to acquire them through demonstrating your unique abilities and talents. However, as the majority of the nation’s populace strives to rise above mediocrity and become exceptional, the standards to which people are held up to increase as well. In this fashion, America has become a land where its inhabitants are defined not by a collective of wooden soldiers, unquestioning and obedient, but by a collective of individuals capable of intelligent thought and curiosity. Living to the beat of their own drums and hearts, they follow the mantra exclaimed by Equality 7-2521: “Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are false, but only three are holy: ‘I will it!’” (Rand 94).

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