“Where are you from?” exclaimed my fourth grade teacher, wanting to know more about me, and though it may seem like a very simple question, I was left dumbfounded, not knowing how to answer. I mean, my father was born in Germany, but his father was born and raised in Palestine. But my father had a German passport? However, my mother’s father is Lebanese, while her mother is Circassian. Yet somehow, my mother has a Jordanian passport. I, nonetheless, had a German passport. To say the least, I was quite confused––since I was unsure of how to define identity.

There is not one specific way for people to define themselves, whether it being culturally, ethnically, politically, or maybe even religiously. That was my first experience with having to define identity.

Since then, I have gathered acumen on how people define themselves and others around them by having discussions with others and by observing the world around me. To better my understanding on this topic, I spoke to my cousin Adam about how to define what it means to be an American, since he lived in America, and was coming to visit. As I asked him about this, I could almost see his soul light up through his brown eyes. For context, we never had deep conversations, mainly because he isn’t very bright. “Lots of people are exposed to American culture,” Adam began confidently, as if he was a teacher explaining a lesson to me. “And American culture heavily impacts the culture that people consume all over the world. The way I see it, how you define what it means to be American depends on the person, and what they’ve been exposed to.” That comment showed me a fresh perspective that I never really thought of, and though I have had the same discussion with others around me, none of them actually were American. “Take Palestinian children, for example,” continued Adam. “They probably see Americans as bad bad people, since they provide Israel with weapons and stuff.” I continued to listen, intrigued by what he was saying. “But not everyone views them that way, and not all Americans can be viewed in the same way. 

In fact, America can’t be represented by only one person, and in only one way. America is a melting pot, where very different and diverse people come together to form one nation, where everyone is welcome, and everyone is accepted. A quote I think perfectly sums up all of what was said is in “A Quilt of a Country” by Anna Quindlen: “America is an improbable idea. A mongrel nation built of ever-changing disparate parts.”

—Naya Abu Gharbieh