When we are asked to describe what America means to us a lot of people automatically say, "Freedom." When we ask people to give examples of things that represent America we tend to hear responses like bald eagles, American flags, The White House, money, and so on. I sat down and came up with eight out of the box items that you would have probably never thought of when summing up America.

1. Baseball

Sports are huge in American and nothing is more American than baseball…well football MAYBE. Baseball though started in New York in 1839 and is now officially known as America's sport. To me the reason that baseball and America go hand and hand is because it brings people together to cheer on their team. Everyone, no matter what their background is, will deck out in team colors and study up on players of the team, for the season, to be prepared for the games to come that year. You'd be surprised how many people will drop what they are doing to watch a baseball game.

2. Downtown

Downtown Historic Districts hold rich history for a lot of little towns in America. “Mom and Pop” shops can be found all over little towns in the United States, specially towns like mine. In the hometown that I grew up, Clinton, Mississippi, we had an area of our town called Downtown Clinton. In Downtown Clinton you could find anything from old antique shops to a cute little family ran bakery called Meme’s. You'll also find boutiques and gift shops ran by local citizens. America runs off of family oriented things and nothing is more family oriented then downtown historic areas.

3. The South

I was born in Mississippi and by the age of ten had moved to Tennessee, Georgia, and back to Mississippi. The South, or as some people like to refer it as “the country," is a part of who I am. It’s sweet tea, church on Sunday, SEC football, mud riding, cowboy boots, and tons of “y’all.” I don’t know life any other way. Yeah, northern states are great, and they bring many important things to what is America today, but when I first thing of America I think of states such as Texas, Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. Anything below the Mason-Dixon line that serves grandmas homemade cornbread with sweet tea that contains a gallon of sugar is full American to me.

4. Agriculture

Farming is a huge part of America without it we would not be where we are today. It's one of the top things that we are known for and have been known for. Agriculture is America’s backbone. There are certain places of America that rely on farming. Some people make their living on it and support their family that way.

5. Coca-Cola

Coke was first created in 1886. Coke screams American because the first two-liter bottle of coke was bottled in Clinton, Mississippi at the Coca-Cola factory that is just five minutes down the road from my house. Specially now Coke is the kind of the drink of America in which it encourages everyone to “melt” together. America is always stating that we are a huge melting pot where people come to live their life and to be free.

6. Disney

Walt Disney World is known for the big boss man with two mouse ears. Mickey Mouse was created by Walt Disney in 1928. Walt Disney fulfilled the dream of never giving up and always being inspired even from the little things. He was sitting in his garage when he saw a little mouse run across the baseboard. He created a whole empire from a little mouse and because he never gave up. It’s the American dream to always find big things out of little things and to be an entrepreneur. Walt Disney created a place that allows everyone no matter the age to have fun and to be themselves.

7. Happiness

The American Dream is for everyone in America to be happy. We are supposed to be happy all the time because of the things we have been given such as our freedom. We aren’t supposed to be selfish and take for granted the things we have been given. Although, majority of the time, we do live in a very happy country, there are times that are hard for us. We all have different belief systems and sometimes disagree. We can’t expect for everyone to be happy all of the time, but happiness is something that everyone should try to attain.

8. Education

Something that is pushed so strongly in America is the need to gain the highest education possible. We are told at a very young age how important our education is for our future. Growing up our whole childhood is focused on graduating from high school. Once we graduate high school though our education isn’t over. In America we are told that we HAVE to go to college in order to be someone or to do something with our life. If we want to be extremely successful in our degree we have to even go past our four years of college and get our master or doctorate degree.