No matter where I traveled in this world in my youth, I met people who spoke wonderfully about America. We often speak about the “American Dream”, but it has really been the “Dream of America…the Land of the Free.” It was a place where one could travel to with little in their pockets and become so much more than they could ever dream of being in the place they left. It was a place that families risked their lives to come to. It was America.
They came, they built, they welcomed those who came behind them, and look at what they left us to build upon…the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, great schools and colleges, great corporations and small businesses, great manufacturing facilities, great farms and ranches, great medical facilities, the best military organization in the world, great allies, great religious institution, great entertainment, great food systems, great safety nets, Social Security, a solid financial system, civil rights, voting rights, fair elections, great children, great families, laws, morals, truth, faith, empathy, benevolence, freedom, etc…not nearly perfect but continuously working on the things that needed to be improved. We were a country that learned from its mistakes and together we forged forward…never backwards.
That is the America I thought we were.
Those who came before us built this America when they came to this land–whether by force or choice. It is the legacy Americans have continued to build upon and the America that is being torn apart piece by piece.
We were better together than we are today. Sometimes people just have to learn the hard way. I’m referring to all of us…because we are in this sinking ship together. We’re all going to get wet…and, we will all drown if we don’t pull together.
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