Akbar Ahmed, author of What is an American?, once said, “Great moments of achievement and catastrophe also bring Americans together. These special moments in a nation’s life capture the imagination and focus on that special meaning of being American.” Ahmed’s claim presents a universal truth that is by no means limited to the parameters of the United States only, but is perhaps most evident in the U.S.A. This truth is more evident in America as compared to the rest of the world due to the wide diversity and countless ethnicities of American citizens. This truth is simply that people tend to become more cooperative, or rather, feel a stronger sense of unity after sharing a life-altering experience. Only these experiences have the ability to make a Taiwanese man shake hands with a Russian man to repair the damage caused by an event. Just as in no other country are citizens more unique, in no other country has this truth been more evident.

In September 11 2001, a terrorist attack destroyed the World Trade Center in New York as well as the Pentagon in Washington D.C. This attack claimed the lives of over three thousand people, Americans and foreigners alike. The terrorists did not distinguish between guilty and innocent, people of their blood and Americans. Clearly, this was one of the most tyrannical and disastrous attack the world has had the misfortune of withstanding since perhaps Hitler’s Nazi army attacks, which were no more merciful than the terrorist attack of 9/11. After the attack, President George W. Bush gave a speech in which he concluded, “Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger, we have found our mission and our moment.” Bush’s claim asserts the fact that shared experiences are what unite peoples of different sects, religions, and nationalities. True enough, America would not have been what it is today if citizens did not put behind them any fear, trepidation, and prejudices in order to rebuild what has been lost eighteen years ago.

We find that a very similar incident occurred in American history after the Great Depression. When President Franklin D. Roosevelt presented his New Deal, his purpose was to encourage the American citizens to have faith that with hard work and perseverance, they could rebuild the United States and rejuvenate the principles on which America now stands. It is obvious that, in order to recollect their strengths after the previous financial struggle, Americans had no choice but to stand together as one. On a larger scale, only the calamities caused by World War ll, the calamities which most of the world’s countries had the misfortune of sharing, could have induced the creation of the United Nations. On a smaller scale, aren’t they the shared experiences that strengthen friendships? Aren’t the shared moments where laughs and tears mingle together as one into a hovering beacon of light those moments that transform an unstable friendship into one that could last for years? There is no stronger power in the world that could create such bonds and meld such iron rods into an exquisite piece of art. There is no other power that could bring together people of such different backgrounds and beliefs and weave them as one, using a thread of tears and a needle of strength.

              In conclusion, I agree with Ahmed’s claim simply because the history of our country has been littered with common achievements and common defeats, and they, more than anything, have led this country to become what it now is. A citizen should be proud to be called an American, not because of the values on which the United States has been founded, nor because of the American ingenuity found in figures such as Thomas Edison, Ben Carson, or Bill Gates. A citizen should be proud to be called an American, because Americans have the ability to fuse together as one to survive hardships and celebrate victories, and that is what the United States is and has always been based on.

Ayah Gouda