Ever since President Barack Obama’s inauguration, his energy-driven strive for “change” has produced two outcomes.

The first outcome, something I’m very happy about, is the sudden uprise of younger people wanting to make a difference in the world.

Unfortunately, following this outcome came another one — what many would probably call “America Bashing.”

I’m all for making the world and the country a better place, but just because there’s always room for improvement doesn’t mean that everything is also terrible.

People seem to get confused with the fact that just because anything can happen in America doesn’t mean it will happen. Living in America doesn’t guarantee success, but instead it guarantees a chance at success, something many other places can’t offer.

During the mortgage crisis, many people thought they could move straight from small houses in Compton to million-dollar mansions in the suburbs because of the sub-prime mortgages they were being given. When they found out they were in debt, they claimed that something bad had happened to America because they “deserved” to have a nice house.

If you deserve to have a nice house, a nice car — prove it. Don’t buy a mansion if you can’t afford it. Get a medium-sized house, save some money for your children so they can start ahead and find happiness in what you’ve given them.

I was recently inspired by the story of a woman named Liz Murray, whose life and ambitions represent exactly what this country stands for.

Born to poor parents who were addicted to drugs and infected with HIV, Liz was forced to live on the streets of the Bronx when she was only 15 years old. Despite her homeless shelter-seeking father and the death of her mother, she fought through the troubles and gained acceptance to the Humanities Preparatory Academy in Manhattan, earning remarkable grades to match her perfect attitude, both of which led to her graduation in only two years.

Liz then got accepted to Harvard University and was awarded a scholarship from The New York Times that helped her pay a lot of the costs.

The story could end here and leave you feeling amazing, but what really made me see the true Liz is that after three years at Harvard, when her father got very sick, she left to take care of him. She moved back to New York and even continued her education at Columbia University during this time.

Her parents weren’t able to give her the comfort of a home during her young life, but that didn’t matter to her, because she knew what she was capable of giving her dad in the last weeks of his life: love.

Liz re-entered Harvard after her father’s death, graduated in June 2009 and has begun taking graduate courses in hopes of becoming a clinical psychologist.

I wish Liz’s life could have started out better, but sometimes we can’t control the situations we’re placed in, and her story renews my faith in what a wonderful place the United States really is. To Liz: I wish you the best in everything you do, and I hope that I will be able to follow in your footsteps and make something important out of my life.

Reach Brian at brian.p.anderson@asu.edu.