I have a hard time writing about America. Not because of my lack of love for this great nation, but more so because I don’t know exactly how to put how I feel into words. I do this with people I love also. I don’t always come off as appreciative or sympathetic or loving or sincere as I truly am because I am so afraid that what I will say can never come close to my actual feelings. I can tell you all day how much I “love” shopping and dove hunting and Pretty Little Liars and lattes and sleeping in, because I know those things don’t care if I think twice about them. I also love words, but they can never do justice for a truly heartfelt emotion like love.
I love God. I love my family and the way I was raised. I love my hometown. I love horses and the way they communicate with and soften my soul and how being around them has bonded my family. And I love my country. Though these are pretty obvious statements, that’s about as far as I can go with them. Anything less is not enough, but any more would still not justify them enough for me.
I hope that everyone genuinely appreciates the ones they truly love today. So many have sacrificed things they love for us to be able to do so. Let this day be a reminder for every. single. day. of just how blessed we are. Cling tight to your loved ones and thank God for them every day. Cling tight to your freedom, it’s only by it that we can chase our passions and dreams and the other things we “love.” Cling tight to the land that we live on which, God willing, provides us all we need and allows us to also meet the needs of others abroad. Cling tight to your right to voice your opinion and never ever think that you don’t matter. Cling tight to your neighbor, even those that you do not love, because together we are a strong and diversified nation. We can only prosper when we learn to be a united front. Divided we fall. The United States of America is not just a country or a big plot of land sandwiched between two others. America is her people and we represent her every day in what we say and do, in the way we carry ourselves, in what we post, in what we think, in what we believe.
Being American is not always about fighting and rebellion. It’s about standing up for the little man and doing what is right. It’s not about absolute power or being better than anyone else. It’s about allowing everyone the opportunity to use their strengths where others are weak, so that we all have the chance to flourish. It’s not about pushing your thoughts on other people and angering when they disagree. It’s about finding the joy in the idea that we can all have different opinions and still thrive under one diversified governing body. It’s not about political warfare and self-defense and birth rights. It’s about understanding that we are a fallen creation that is going to face dark times and hard questions, but knowing we can get through them.
And to me, being American is owning a gun for defense, not offense. And speaking of defense, my America is about football. And the marching band. My America is going to church and believing. Believing. My America is driving to the grocery store on Sunday and waiting in line at the checkout. It’s choosing where you want to go to college. It’s a funny movie. It’s fashion trends and diet fads and apple pie moonshine. It’s freedom of expression and parents who teach their children respect- how to earn it and how to show it. It’s getting what you work for, not what you think you’re entitled to. And it’s never about settling for less that you deserve. It is chasing dreams and opportunity. Opportunity. And it doesn’t get any better.
I hope today you remember what threatened this country 12 years ago on this day. And I hope you are grateful to still call it yours. I hope you also keep everything you love in mind when considering our current situations at home and abroad. And most of all, I hope you love America like I do. But I hope you can say it much better than I.
Love always,
Addie
“The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position.” – James Truslow Adams, The Epic of America
“It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the organizer, who gave us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag. And whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.” –Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC
“Part of the American dream is to live long and die young. Only those Americans who are willing to die for their country are fit to live.” –Douglas MacArthur
Breaking out of the Bootheel 