Note from Steve: This is an essay submission for Steve’s Great American Essay Challenge. These will run nightly for as long as there are submissions. Submit your own to earn a TNB coffee mug and maybe even more.
The essays will remain anonymous until the end of the challenge. Please do not claim this essay until we are ready for that reveal.
What makes a great American?
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”
President John F. Kennedy’s words are, perhaps, the most succinct definition of what makes a great American. It’s someone who puts the needs of others at the forefront.
Doing for your country doesn’t require you to join the military, become a first responder, serve as an elected representative of the people, or educate future generations. It can be done in small actions of service to others. Helping an elderly neighbor care for herself or her home. Creating employment for members of your community. Sharing your talents with others. Teaching a child the joy of reading. Feeding the hungry, or providing shelter to the homeless. Growing a Victory Garden. Sending a care package to a serviceman or woman overseas. Wearing a mask or getting a vaccine during a pandemic. Treating others with kindness and respect, even when politics divides us.
In short, doing for our country is doing for each other, whenever and wherever the need arises, in ways both small and large.
Alexis de Tocqueville might not have said “America is great because she is good,” but that sentiment is still filled with truth. What has made America great is the goodness of our people, and those who are good people are great Americans. For when we are good people, it’s natural that goodness will spill out and be shared with others, in acts of kindness and service to them. And by extension, in service to our country.
