What does being American mean to you? Options

[Inferia]

I know I've been accused many times of hating this country or somewhere along the lines of that, sometimes people say if you don't like it here, you should just leave. In reality, as much as it may not seem like it, I actually really like this country and have a lot of respect for the people here. I may disagree with many of them politically and philosophically, isn't that the point of this country though - that everyone is free to have and express their own opinions?

I started my citizenship applications recently. I could've done so awhile ago, and for a long time people asked me why am not a citizen or have not applied to become a citizen. Most of the time, I sort of just brush the question off. I've always known why, a lot of people become citizens for the benefits of living here, there's nothing wrong with that since this is what people have done for centuries. I've always felt that before I became American, I have to understand what it means to be American, or perhaps I should say what does America mean to me.

Since most of the people on this board are born American, you don't actually have to make a decision on your citizenship. But I feel like you must at one point think about about what your citizenship means and what being American mean to you.