I wrote this last year and it still
applies, although it’s been so heartening to see the Europeans visiting for the
World Cup seeing America as it is versus what their media tries to portray. They
should ask themselves why the powers to be in their countries do not want them
to see the real America.
Since we’re at that special day where
we celebrate the birthday of my beloved country, I wanted to take this
opportunity to address something that’s been bothering me since the Clinton
presidency. Something that has been enhanced and blown up to unimaginable
levels since the advent of the information age. The attempt to divide
Americans. For Clinton it was a cheap political trick to garner support. Others
have taken this and run with it. Our enemies, the Russians and the Iranians,
have certainly noticed as they are engaged in an ongoing war for the soul of
America through the internet. We are better than this.
I know we have a complete buffoon as
president. He isn’t the first and he won’t be the last, but he is our duly
elected president. Of all Americans. You can’t only love your country when you
agree with the political party in power. We have been and will continue to be a
force for good in the world because we are one of the few, if not only,
countries in the world where the station of your birth doesn’t define you. I
wore the unfirm of this country for twenty-seven years and in doing so certain
aspects of life in America were brought home to me in no uncertain terms. We
are that shining city upon the hill that Ronald Reagan spoke so eloquently
about.
One of the things I did in preparing
to write today was search the internet for quotes about America. It reinforced
my core beliefs about my country. I ran across Reagan’s farewell address as he
prepared to leave the presidency. I know revisionists have tried to cast
aspersions on President Reagan but I lived through his time where he
reinvigorated America by reminding us who we are. My fervent hope is another
great communicator will emerge from the political rubble that Trump will leave
behind.
We struggle with immigration issues
because people want to come here. While I know that is simplistic, but it is a
bone deep truth that has existed for more than 200 years now. People come here
because they believe in a future for their children. I know there are smarmy
social justice warriors (especially Western Europeans) who exist solely to
criticize and point out our shortcomings. I still believe in America, not only
as a country, but as an idea. Yeah, it’s a messy place, currently tearing at
itself as political differences are constantly invigorated by the relentless
internet traffic (a lot of instigated from Moscow and Tehran). They will fail
eventually because we are Americans first, before all our differences are taken
in account. Enemies throughout our history have mistaken our internal arguing
as a weakness and have paid the price when our glowering, united attention
focuses on them.
If you have friends who you have
distanced yourself from because they do not agree with you politically, then
you need to take a long look at yourself. I have a bunch of friends I do not
agree with about everything, politics and otherwise, but that doesn’t mean I
don’t cherish them as friends. Ask yourself if you are better off hearing only
from people who agree with you about everything. People are not unworthy simply
because they don’t agree with you politically. Of course, this does not apply
to the fanatics on either end of the spectrum but they are a noisy,
self-important but still small percentage of the population that will
eventually be shouted down by the majority. I believe in this as I believe in
the promise that is America. I wouldn’t have worn the uniform as proudly as I
did for all those years if I didn’t. Happy Birthday America, I love you still.
As I said, I was searching for quotes
and decided to include a bunch of them that speak to the America I believe in a
lot more eloquently than I ever could:
“People in power
are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other.
But that is not our story. That is not who we are. That's not our America. Our
United States of America is not about us versus them. It's about we the people!” -
Camila Alves
From President Reagan’s farewell
address:
“The lesson of all
this was, of course, that because we're a great nation, our challenges seem
complex. It will always be this way. But as long as we remember our first
principles and believe in ourselves, the future will always be ours.”
``We the People''
tell the government what to do; it doesn't tell us. ``We the People'' are the
driver; the government is the car. And we decide where it should go, and by
what route, and how fast. Almost all the world's constitutions are documents in
which governments tell the people what their privileges are. Our Constitution
is a document in which ``We the People'' tell the government what it is allowed
to do. ``We the People'' are free.”
“An informed
patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our
children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the
world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different
America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we
absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its
institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family you got them from
the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the
family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from
school. And if all else failed you could get a sense of patriotism from the
popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly
reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through
the mid-sixties.”
“I've spoken of
the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite
communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud
city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming
with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports
that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls,
the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the
heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still. And how stands the
city on this winter night? More prosperous, more secure, and happier than it
was 8 years ago. But more than that: After 200 years, two centuries, she still
stands strong and true on the granite ridge, and her glow has held steady no
matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must
have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling
through the darkness, toward home.”
And the rest:
"America was
built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job
at hand." - Harry S. Truman.
"Where
liberty dwells, there is my country." -
Benjamin Franklin.
"The price of
freedom is eternal vigilance." - Thomas
Jefferson.
"No man is
entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its
preservation." -Douglas MacArthur
"America is
not just a country, it's an idea." - Bono
“This is your
democracy. Make it. Protect it. Pass it on.” -
Thurgood Marshall
“Duty, honor, country. Those
three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be,
what you will be.” - Douglas MacArthur
“Those who expect
to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like me, undergo the fatigue of
supporting it.” - Thomas Paine
“I am an American;
free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for
his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.”
—Theodore Roosevelt
“The essence of
America—that which really unites us—is not ethnicity, or nationality or
religion - it is an idea - and what an idea it is: That you can come from
humble circumstances and do great things.” —Condoleezza
Rice
“Americans never
quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.” —John
McCain
“The fate of
America cannot depend on any one man. The greatness of America is grounded in
principles and not on any single personality.” —Franklin
Roosevelt
“I love America
more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I
insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” —James
Baldwin
“I say to you that
our goal is freedom, and I believe we are going to get there because however
much she strays away from it, the goal of America is freedom.” —Martin
Luther King Jr.
“This [nation]
will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” —Elmer
Davis
“We’re blessed
with the opportunity to stand for something—for liberty and freedom and
fairness. And these are things worth fighting for, worth devoting our lives
to.” —Ronald Reagan
“Let every nation
know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the
survival and the success of liberty.” —John F.
Kennedy
“Democracy is
worth dying for, because it’s the most deeply honorable form of government ever
devised by man.” - Ronald Regan
“Patriotism is
supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it.” -
Mark Twain
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete – my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous
Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything,
poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high
school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside
Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in
Brooklyn; Czech Connection – Czech couple who’ve become good friends
along with their daughter (the Czech Shadow); Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions
once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite
Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR
- First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since
high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited
with after many years; Maine and
Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my
wife is the 3rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close
friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals
– female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife
accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate – high
school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the
Grandpuppy, son's dog; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex
and my wife and I; Soxfather – my
brother-in-law (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca –
wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my
son in law; Upstairs Neighbors – American
couple and great friends who live in condo above us in Panama; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course
