No one would ever call me ultra-patriotic or more than moderately political. Although my father served in the military, one of the few times my parents told me "no" about something was when I suggested I enlist in the reserves after high school (what can I say? I like guns and uniforms.)
The biggest change which has come to my understanding of what it means to be an American happened when I lived in China for five years. Living abroad helped me to separate and articulate what was "American" in me. Seeing how other people lived and labored helped me to realize the ways the USA operates and what we value. Hearing the criticisms and anger against the US, also allowed me to step back and ask hard questions about my own country and heritage.
Here are a few things I have come to value:
1) Being born in America means that I have the an amazing amount of freedom of opportunity and choice.
In China, everyone carries a "hukou"...in effect it's a permit for where you live. Brilliantly, the Chinese have figured out how to prevent the problem of overpopulation in their cities. Without the "hukou" I believe China would look like India, but worse. Yet what the "hukou" also means is that a person is not free to move about as they wish. If you are born in the countryside, unless you can change your "hukou", you will remain in the countryside throughout your life. Education is a means to change your "hukou", which is one reason it's so important. Literally, I knew families where one parent's "hukou" was in a different city than the other parent's. Families only came together over holidays.
2) Being born in America means that I have protected freedoms.
No earthly man-made system of government is perfect. Not the USA's nor China's. Yet even in the imprefection of our own government, there are basic rights we have which are protected: speech, bearing arms, religion...and the list goes on. But allowing freedom is dangerous. Letting people do things means that life has a certain unpredictability. The possibility of messes is palpable. The Chinese do not allow their citizens to own guns. This doesn't mean that crime never happens, but I was never frightened to wall around the city at night even though I lived in a small/big city of 2.9 million. (Something I would never have done in Los Angeles or New York.) But this Chinese law is perhaps more motivated by fear than altruism. We all remember the iconic images of Tianamen Square, which we perceived as a fight for democracy. Even now, China continues to change and grow out of her Communist past (I experience very little communism when I was in China...but lots of socialism.) I believe what the Chinese government feared from the crowds in Tianamen was not democracy (which they are slowly moving towards), but the loss of control (in Chinese "luan".) Chaos. I love our freedoms, but understand that they open the door to things which aren't my preference, too.
3) Being born in America means that I have influence.
Who am I to shape culture? I'm not a diplomat or a politician. Yet due to where I was born, I was treated differently (not always good, mind you.) There were people from many other countries in China, but still us Americans were looked at differently. This is a great responsibility. First, every American needs to beware of the global community (they know way more about us than we do about them!) Second, we need to walk humbly with the opportunity, influence, and power we've been blessed with. Finally, I believe we need to use our influence for good, not evil.
4) Being born in America is great but there is something better.
Living in China was a huge privilege. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. It has helped shape who I am. But I lived in tension there. Although I became "comfortable", I always knew I was a "stranger", an "alien", a "foreigner in a foreign land." I loved the food, I learned the language, I never blended in...but people told me I was becoming "Chinese." But I knew this place was not my "home." I'm a lot more comfortable living in the US, but as a Christian, I know that even the country I was born in is not my ultimate "home". I was made for heaven. The ultimate freedom is freedom in Christ, which transcends every human barrier (culture, language, government, oppression, sin...) This should set us free to live well under any condition. Chinese Christians taught me this. To be truly free in the midst of oppression, that is something.
