Feeling alive and dancing with your naked feet when the soles of your shoes are eventually worn away; being able to be a unique individual and still receive acceptance instead of being cast out by society; living as a woman with no necessity or desire for a male to dominate your life; that is what an American is, and what an American feels.

We live in a place where there is little (if anything) preventing us from working to make any one of our dreams come true. Doing something you love makes you feel alive and without being able to search for that one thing, there is nothing. We are not restrained in any way from reaching a goal, or finding what will bring us that happiness that everyone needs and desires.

The freedom of expression is one of the greatest gifts. Included with that endowment are the right to form our own identities and beliefs, and the right to share them with as many people who choose to listen. The variety that exists in the United States of America, ranging from the many groups of diverse people who reside here to the numerous kinds of music they listen to, is what makes it so special. This freedom of expression that we have aids in the feeding of that variety and the continual growth of the world's culture just as Mozart's ability to express himself through his music gave the entire world something to admire and cherish.

Also, American women have the rights, as finally accepted by society, not to marry and not to depend on a man. Along with these rights come women's ability to move upward in society and currently stand on an equal, if not higher, platform as men instead of straining their backs to support them from below. They have finally received recognition for their abilities and can never be pushed back into the woodwork again.

These are the things which make me proud to be an American. The United States of America, the land where you can live independently "to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" (Alfred, Lord Tennyson). ?