What’s an American?

I ask it all the time.

Why don’t we ever question our identity?

We hide behind that tired phrase — the melting pot — like it explains anything.

It doesn’t. It just lets us stop thinking.

What’s an American, really?

If you mean geography, then Americans stretch from the Arctic to Patagonia.

Mexicans are Americans.

Canadians are Americans.

Brazilians are Americans.

So am I. So are you.

The problem isn’t the people.

It’s the systems — the governments, the laws, the money — that keep people divided, distracted, and arguing over scraps while calling it freedom.

Those systems teach us to confuse identity with obedience.

Belonging with paperwork.

Power with dominance.

But the people — the real Americans — are figuring something else out.

We’re learning how to coexist.

How to live beside difference without fear.

How to work together without needing everyone to look, think, or believe the same way.

And here’s the part people miss:

We don’t want the U.S. with us because we need it.

We want it with us because it already belongs.

Not as a boss.

Not as a gatekeeper.

Not as the loudest voice in the room.

Just people on the same land, trying — imperfectly — to live together.

That’s an American.

And it has nothing to do with borders.