On Being American With No Hyphen

Just a short thought:

Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas on being an AMERICAN in 1907. “... it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.” - Theodore Roosevelt 1907

My evening with the patriotic Mr. Park, who came to this country in 1977 and stayed and became a citizen who knows the history of this country and why it is a great nation, and is not a Korean-American, but an AMERICAN, reminds me that we should never take for granted the humble beginnings of all who came here. My own mother is a naturalized citizen, from Germany, and has never taken her rights, or responsibilities, for granted. She votes in every election. She stays current on what is happening, and of course her blood pressure goes up watching the nightly news. She has never been a German-American. She is an AMERICAN with proud German roots.