Subconsciously, she has always known what it means to be American. Growing up in an immigrant family, her military family taught her this, having been wrapped in its multicolored blankets of diversity and opportunity since the day she was born. She remembers her mother's scolding words as she taught her the Pledge of Allegiance for her second day of kindergarten. There were freedoms, he reminded her, underlying those words - "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" - that we should never take for granted. However, it wasn't until years later, after a visit to the Philippines, that she understood what her mother really meant, and also that something more, something deeper was part of being American. It all started with a simple question. "What are you?" his cousins ​​asked. Their heavily accented words, full of curiosity, hung in the air. "Philippine? Or American?" "Um, American?" As soon as the answer left her lips, her cousins ​​scolded her, underlining her disdain for the Filipino blood coursing through her veins. To her nine-year-old mind it was never It occurred to her to take this into account; she had always thought that simply living under the amendments that granted her the freedom to live her life defined her identity. However, a revelation struck her when their freely expressed opinions loomed before her wavering conviction For the first time she realized, looking at her cousins, that other countries also shared those same freedoms. How come they were not considered American? my maternal grandfather, "Tatay", as we called him, had not died five years earlier, might have given me the answer I desperately sought. ... middle of the paper ... birth alone does not constitute a Korean, Filipino, American or nationality of any other nationality. If that were the case, my parents wouldn't be the Americans they are today. Instead it is the decision to identify with whichever country stands behind your hopes, dreams and future. My ethnicity may be Filipino, but like my parents before me, I am American. Works Cited Houston, Jeanne. "A tapestry of hope." Creating America. 4th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2005. 146-47. Print.Kang, Younghill. "A Korean discovers New York." Creating America. 4th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education, 2005. 60-61. Print."Maryland – DP-1. General Demographics Profile: 2000." The New York Times. 24 August 2009. Web. 04 October. 2010. .