In America there is more then one way of life. People in the world often say that America is the land of the free. A white middle class woman said that the American Way of Life (or AWOL) is "To have a voice and to have the freedom to do what you want." That is a very generic response to the question, I expected that answer to that question. To me that question was very generic and average because of the fact that when most people are asked about America they never really want to go into detail because they feel it might make them seem unpatriotic. Her point of view is all about freedom, and the ability to say and feel what ever and how ever you want.
Another white middle class female also said that America is "all about having a democracy. Without democracy people would not be to be as successful as they are." This person speaks of democracy and being successful, and that being the American Way Of Life. I also think that is a generic, average response because of the fact that people are always speaking of being successful and being able to make as much money as possible. These two quotes go with the generic theme of America being free and everyone getting the chance to be successful.
An African-American Male around the age of 18 said that America "Is going to hell and full of crap because we have a president who is a jackass and we don't have the necessities that people need to live comfortably and isn't that what America is all about? Living comfortable?" This point of view is that we, as Americans, should be much better off then we are. We should be living so comfortably that we don't need to complain about things that we are complaining about now which is: education, health care, will I eat tonight?, Will I see my family tonight?. All of these things are the result of bad leadership and we need someone to change this and that starts with having a new president. That point of view I would categorize this as a view that isn't afraid to see what they think about America, and doesn't care about being unpatriotic.
Now what I've learned from these two points of view is that there are many difference views on the AWOL and if that it is good hear different views. Some people view the American Way of Life as being free and successful while others view the American Way of Life as us living a lie and not being as comfortable as we thought. The real question is, what is the true American Way of Life?As seen in the interviews above, the American Way of Life is all about being free and being comfortable and having money. It is also all about people being selfish and not helping others out in their time of need. It is about people not realizing what they have and being grateful for it. While everyone I interviewed agreed that there were flaws in the AWOL, you can still see the differences in the answers to the questions. If to divide them you would see that there would be one group of people who think that the AWOL is all about freedom and being able to do what you want as long as you know the consequences. The other group of people would say that the AWOL is about not taking what you have for granted and also doing what’s possible to live the most comfortably you can live.
As Americans we are able to live the way we live now because of the “Highest Law of the Land” more commonly known as the Constitution. The Constitution is what shaped our Government and because of our Government we live the way we live. One specific document of the Constitution, the “Full Faith and Credit” provision is what really shapes the US government. That provision states that a law written in one state has to be respected by all the other states. A hot topic in America right now is should Gay Marriage and should it be legal. If a state wrote a law making it legal, people can go get married in that state, return to their state and they would be recognized as a married couple.
In the Constitution you can see that our rights in the first 10 amendments are the amendments of human beings, not rights given to us by the government and that’s an important thing because those help and try and show people that the US isn’t fully run by the government but if you think about it, we as people did not come up with the amendments, the government came up with them. Those being the “rights” of human beings how come there are only 10 that aren’t about government? Humans should have more than 10 amendments that aren’t created by the government and that is what the constitution should be about. The Amendments in general were a major turning point in US history. Amendments 12-15 in general helped because those have made voting into what it is today. Those Amendments changed the requirements of being an eligible voter and that makes a huge differences in what kind of President will be elected because of the different people being able to vote. Now every kind of person, people with different views, and people with different beliefs on how the country should be ran, are eligible to vote and that really changes who is chosen to run the country.
Now to one of the biggest Amendments in the US is what helped with the shaping of the American Way of Life. Amendment 13 is the one being talked about and that amendment is what abolished slavery. That Amendment is very important because it ended the most disgusting thing about America and that really made America as free as it is today. Now because of that amendment everyone has to get paid money for work and everyone is “equal” to one another.
While the Constitution is very important to the AWOL we can see that there are some contradictions which also show what the AWOL is about. Lethal Injections and/or the Electric Chair completely contradict the 8th amendment. They both contradict it because the 8th amendment states that those kinds of things shall not be deemed necessary. So the fact that this stuff still happens is a violation of the constitution which is also referred to as the "Highest Law of the Land". What that can say about our AWOL is that most Americans may say one thing but contradict it by doing the opposite of what they said.
Out of all the amendments that aren’t “Human Rights” amendments, basically amendments 11-27, the 13th amendment is the most important one in my opinion. That amendment helped America become what it is today as the land of the free and it also invited more diverse people to come to America without fear or oppression. The end of slavery also prevented a huge economical gap between the rich and the poor. While the other amendments are important, this one helped shape America into what it is today.
Aside from the interviews and the Constitution holidays are a big part of the American Way of Life. My family celebrated thanksgiving the usual way, food and family. On thanksgiving my family and most families I believe made a bunch of food on thanksgiving and people came over and everyone celebrated and had a good time. People were being entertained and everyone was talking to one another and that’s what I think part of the American Way of Life is, just people indulging themselves as much as possible in order to escape any kind of feelings of unhappiness.
An important part of Thanksgiving is a special day called Black Friday. On black Friday prices are cut to such an extent that people are willing to kill others to get what they want. What I am referring to is the Wal-Mart incident that happened on the past black Friday and that is exactly what happened. People rushed into Wal-Mart when the doors opened and killed a man and injured a couple others. What that says to me about the AWOL is that people go so crazy to buy, buy, buy and not care what happens to anyone else that gets in their way. That’s sad to me because when someone gets killed as a result of people going that extra mile just to get the “deal of the year”, that kind of stuff is not necessary. So according to this day the AWOL is about nothing but money.
During the winter break I have done mainly two things, hang out with friends and family and went shopping. Before Christmas I hung out a lot with my family and people came over my house to celebrate Christmas Eve. On Christmas day me and my family exchanged gifts and spent the day together, at night we went to another relative’s house for dinner and that was very enjoyable because I got to see people I didn't see Christmas Eve. The day after Christmas me and my family went shopping and spent about 4-5 hours doing so, it was a very enjoyable experience because I got stuff that I wanted and didn't get on Christmas. After the day of shopping more friends and family came over to my house and spent about a week here (until the day after New Years) and I enjoyed that because it was very fun.You could say that my Christmas experience was the experience of the typical American. I say this because I spent Christmas with my family, I went shopping after words and spent a lot of time with my friends and family. The typical AWOL for Christmas and New Years after speaking to different people about their own experience, was the same as mine. Everyone had the same story of opening gifts on Christmas, going shopping afterwards and spending time with families and friends nothing more, nothing out of the ordinary.
The Holidays are such an important part in the AWOL and that could mean different things. It could mean that us as Americans value family and spending time with the people we care about and that’s what the American Way of Life is all about. It could also mean that we just love accepting gifts, are phony with one another and don’t really care but don’t show it because we are afraid of what people think. Sometimes they are combined of the two, people may love spending time with their families and people they love and also just love accepting gifts and celebrating everything and going shopping and such and I believe that is the one people connect with the most.
After Barack Obama had become President I interviewed someone on the AWOL. The person I interviewed stated “Well this is hard to explain because I believe the AWOL is changing so drastically at the moment due to having a black president, us being in a recession, and no one really liking our country at all. So I would have to say that the AWOL is everyone moving towards coming goal, everyone just moving and progressing towards being someone.” I thought that was a very insightful response because not only does that make me feel like the mind set of people are changing, it actually does make me feel as though America is heading in a different direction.
