America

It is hard to believe that it is already the Independence Day weekend. The days are already getting shorter. The Lovey Sharon and I have spent considerable time the last month working in the yard, planting flowers and trimming everything. But after working in the yard for a couple of hours this morning, I am going to take it easy the rest of the afternoon and then we will join dear friends Norm and Terry for dinner at a new nearby restaurant. Sitting here in the Bud Cave, I have been thinking about our Country. How wonderful it is to be an American. Even the name the “United States of America” does something to me when I see it printed or hear it announced. I have never tired of seeing the stars and stripes flying against a blue sky. I don’t know whether our flag is actually the best looking flag of all the countries or if it just seems so to me.

When I think of the USA I think of many things. I think of the political discussions with my friends. How wonderful it is to debate and argue openly and in public over political and economic issues and to be able to criticize our elected leaders. As Americans it is not only our right but it is our responsibility to voice our opinion to stand up for our ideals and beliefs. How wonderful it is to be able to write on a blog that most of my friends (right leaning Republicans) are wrong about almost everything. How wonderful it is to have friends who tell me I am totally wrong on pretty much everything but yet they are still my friends.

We have so many gigantic issues facing us now, healthcare, Medicare, Social Security, runaway debt, unemployed, crashed real estate markets and spending billions of dollars weekly in Mideast wars that can, in my opinion not change the ingrained beliefs of people that have been solidified for two thousand years. I think about these issues constantly. I watch the news, I read the news and I listened to the news. Sometimes it is just too much. From now until Tuesday morning, July 5th I am not thinking about that stuff. I am going to think about the physical beautiful of our country, I am going to thank God for our freedom, I am going to give thanks to those men and women who have served in the military since 1777; those who gave their time and their lives because they believed it to be their duty. I am going to think about how lucky we are to be able to vote someone out of office rather than overthrow a ruler.

I am going to think of the following:

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

America, I love you and I am so thankful to be a citizen