This post started out much different. It started as a rile against the way things are done today. I don't want to be that person who just finds fault with our Country and how we do things. I want to be a leader of another kind. I want to find what is good. So, I am symbolically balling up the started sheet of paper and starting again. Here we go:
Yesterday, the building at 1 World Trade Center was declared the tallest building in the United States. Think of it. On September 11, 2001, there was a pile of rubble. Now stands a new building' the tallest on a continent. 1776 feet tall is no accident. So, with that in mind, I though it would be appropriate to write about an experience I had just the other day.
I like the TV Show "The West Wing". I was watching it on Netflix the other night and the President was having a conversation with his Chief of Staff. There was music playing in the background. It was David Crosby and Graham Nash (Crosby & Nash) performing "My Country Tis of Thee." It was a hauntingly beautiful arrangement. I went on the internet looking for that particular piece and arrangement. I don't know why but, it took me some time to find. But I did find it. .99 cents buys it on iTunes and I am happy.
The music is wonderful. We all know the words. It's an ode to the idea of America. It speaks of what we are or at least the idea of what we should be.
"Sweet land of liberty" We do indeed take our liberty for granted. But people around the world do not. They come here seeking that which they do not have and which they never have had. Liberty. The idea of freedom. As Americans, can we imagine not having the liberty that we have today?
The holidays are approaching. Many of us will be traveling to visit friends and family. Imagine if you couldn't do that or needed government permission. It is that way in many countries. When we go to college, we study anything we want. Any point of view is welcome. We debate with impunity. We won't be arrested for our ideas. I can write anything I wish here. Publish it without fear. Liberty.
"Land where my fathers died. Land of the pilgrim's pride." Each Thanksgiving we sit as a Nation, around family tables and remember the history of how our country began. Whether you remember the stylized version like the Disney movie or think of the true historical factual version of history, one thing can't be denied: many of the original settlers of this country died in it's establishment. But, they did not die in vain. They were looking for a better life. They believed that a better life existed and they were going to find it. Well, they did. That better life resides in each of us. Americans.
Each of us, whether we are descendants of the Jamestown Settlement or new immigrants, just "off the boat." In the end, we are Americans and we have the ability to make our country great.
"From every mountainside, let freedom ring." Of course, more than 50 years ago, those words were used by Dr. King to inspire a people. The minorities of America were not seeing the land of Liberty as that. Sadly, many believe that today still that land of liberty for all Americans has not been achieved. As a society, we must decide to do better and then do it.
But the idea of freedom for all is not exclusive to the civil rights movement. There are so many areas of American life that can use improvement and we can make life better. That is the promise of America and the legacy of our forefathers. From the days of the Jamestown settlement all the way to today, the idea of freedom for all is goal that we all must aspire too. To get there we all must contribute towards that goal.
I believe in America. I believe in the promise of America and the ideal that this simple song speaks of. That belief comes from faith in the determination of the American People to live up to the promise of America.
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