Normally when asked, “What does America mean to you?” I would give the same generic answer: “It’s the land of the free because of the brave.” statement that I’ve always been told. We never talk about the things we had to do to get here. Or even things people still go through. I am a third-generation Mexican-American. With that being said, I don’t say that to have people listen to my essay but because that’s what I am and because I know what my grandparents went through to get my parents the life they need.

When I used to think of America when I was younger, I thought of fireworks on the 4th of July but as I get older, I think about what we did to get here, way back when we were still the 13 colonies. America is the place I call home because of birth, but it’s also the place other people want to call home. People have fought and lost their lives for this country and to give us freedom. Back when America was started women didn’t have the right to vote, but now we do. I say this because it shows that America is progressive. As I get older, I also think about the political side of America. And I wonder, “What will I have to do?”, “What will happen to the country?”, and “Who can we trust to lead it?” America is a place where we worry about these things because they want us the people to know what is going on in the country we live in. Not only we choose to vote but we also decided what’s going to happen to our family with these choices that we make. I know the choices that a lot of people make and how they affect them.

Not because it was the wrong choice but because they were thinking too far ahead, and I am one of them. The American dream sounds perfect with the white picket fence, the nice family, and the perfect house, but that’s not reality in America. We also, like other countries, struggle with poverty like any other country.

So what does America mean to me? To me, America means a place that is progress, but it also has its struggles. America worries me because I wonder what will happen to us as the people of America, but I also know that my grandparents brought us here for a reason.