You know I have to say that I am very happy to have been born in America (though there have been some things that have occurred in the past 8 years that I haven’t agreed with – but that is for another post).

I have had a number of friends from other countries and I tend to read quite a bit of how people live in other countries and though there may be some aspects of America that caan at times be challenging, we have it pretty darn good in the overall scheme of things.

To celebrate the 4th of July as well as my weekly Maniverse, I wanted to find some images that symbolize America to me… the first few are ones that I took myself, while the final images were ones that I idenitified through some online surfing.

And how the innocence of our Children shows us the importance of our faith in freedom

I have always felt that lady liberty was an iconic image that truly portrayed freedom and what America was all about…I cannot even imagine what it would have been like to see her coming into New York from a long sea voyage as an immigrant to the US… talk about a site.

Now this image makes me think Americana all the way. I find it interesting to see how people show their pride in their country. This is but one of many examples.

I hope to be able to have my Divas understand why America is so great, and why it is important for us to maintain the ideals that our founding fathers started so long ago. I can only try and educate and hope that they will come to appreciate our country as I do.

Finally, in thinking about this post, I was thinking about what it meant to be an American and wondered what would happen if I Googled this…this is what I found:

USA Today – What it means to be an American

Student Essays on what it mens to be an American

Foundation for Economic Education

American by Choice

MSNBC

What it means to be an American (By a US Diplomat)

These are but a few ideas of what it means to be an American. What are your thoughts? What do you think it means to be an American? What images to you mean America or represent Americana?

I look forward to your thoughts!

Happy 4th of July!!!