BY JOSHUA ROSARIO

Being Hispanic in the United States. 

Born in ’07 in York, PA; 

raised to be the man I am today. 

Child of immigrants, believers of the American dream. 

Born to grow in a land where I’m different, struggling to be part of their American dream. 

So what makes me different, different from any other American? 

Is every American really identical? 

Is a set standard to call someone American realistic? 

Could that standard be conventional? 

So what would it take? Is there something specific I’d have to do with my life? Be a teacher, scientist, astronaut, lawyer, or business owner; would any of these make me more American? 

To work hard and become a doctor would be nice, but to be considered American, is this a necessary condition? 

If you ask me, being American is being cohesive regardless of background. 

As Thomas Jefferson once said, “Let us, fellow citizens,…unite with one heart and one mind.” 

Unity is American, an idea that should be sound. 

Yet unity is unachievable if ignorance leaves us blind. 

Now I’m 18, and I’m learning what it means to be a man — more than that, a Hispanic man. I’ve learned that part of that is learning to be judged without being known. 

Regardless of where I’m at, I must do what I can, and I’ll continue to push forward as I learn to be grown. 

Some will say I’m American; some don’t want me to be. 

I’m more focused on making something of the risk my parents took for me.

But it doesn’t matter what others want nor what they believe, as long as my parents see me become their American dream.