“Only in America…” is a dichotomous phrase to me. On the one hand, it brings to mind the bizarre and ridiculous aspects of our country: the cups of soda bigger than my head at the movies, the wealthy reality TV stars crying and stumbling around for all to see, the football players with concussions, and the countless citizens who don’t even know who the members of their government are let alone how to vote for them. There is an underlying tone of consumerist indulgence in material possessions while those in countries across the oceans – and sometimes even a subway ride away from us— fall asleep on hard sidewalks with empty, gnawing stomachs. The one word to sum all of this up would be ignorance.

Yet on the other hand, another feeling draws me in a divergent, less cynical direction upon hearing this phrase. Only in America can you open a newspaper and read bold denouncements of those in power who may not be properly fulfilling their roles. Only in America can you express yourself and your beliefs freely without fearing what the government will do to you. Only in America can groups come together to rise up and fight hard enough to change the very makeup and structure of their laws. Don’t get me wrong, many other western European countries share such freedoms today, but America is unique in that it was literally founded with such values and opportunities, and invited people from all walks of life to immigrate here and partake in that dream. I am shocked to hear stories abroad of peaceful student protests that are violently repressed, corrupt policemen who are against you rather than for you, Christians who are imprisoned and tortured for their beliefs, leaders who force you to be who they want rather than who you really are, and majorities of populations who don’t have the simplest of necessities such as clean water.

Of course we are not a perfect country- America is still young compared to the expansive histories of many other nations, and founded as an experiment we do not know all of the results of our mixtures.  We have much to learn, and sometimes we take our freedom for granted and handle it foolishly. Yet the elements we are mixing in this experiment are laced with good intentions at their core. The path I choose to see for “Only in America” is the more hopeful one of freedom and the possibility for newness and change. America is geographically, socially, and culturally diverse, yet our differences all unite by a shared common theme- 3,000 miles of freedom.