America is beautiful, incredibly beautiful, no matter its problems. Many, including me, think it is the greatest nation in all of the history of mankind.
America is exceptional, and we the people, American citizens are exceptionally blessed to have lived here. We should be proud of our country. We should defend it aggressively, especially against the assaults and criticisms of others. No one should ever unfairly attack America. Our President, our Congress, our Supreme Court, and in fact all of our leaders should wear the proud label AMERICAN wherever they go, whatever they do. And most especially, they should be proud Americans in every decision they make.
We take criticism far too lightly as a rule. But there are those, those committed, lovers of the AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL who do stand up and defend and will not let others take cheap shots. They stand up and tell it like it is. Like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
When in England, at a fairly large conference, Secretary Rice was asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury if America’s plans for Iraq were simply a rationalization for empire building by George Bush. Ms. Rice answered by saying:
“Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those who did not return.”
All attending that conference were deadly silent.
Then there was a conference in France were a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and America citizens. One of the French engineers said the following:
“Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?”
Those in attendance snickered and jeered. That is, until an engineer from the Boeing Company in America stood up and proudly stated:
“Our aircraft carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people. They are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities. They have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 three meals a day. They can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day. They carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such aircraft carriers. How many does France have?”
You could have heard a pin drop.
And again, a US Naval Admiral was attending a Naval conference that included Admirals from the United States, England, Canada, Australia and France. Everyone in attendance was conversing in English. Suddenly, a French Admiral complained that Europeans learn many languages but Americans learn only English. This French Admiral arrogantly and pompously said:
“Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?”
The American Admiral stood up proudly and replied:
“Maybe it’s because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you would not have to speak German!”
The room was dead silent.
And yet another example of a proud American. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman 83 years young arrived in Paris by plane. At French customs, it took him several minutes to locate his passport. The customs officer with sarcasm and disdain asked Mr. Whiting:
“You have been to France before Monsieur?”
When the answer was yes, this smartalec French official replied pompously:
“Then you should know enough to have your passport ready!”
Mr. Whiting then said the following:
“The last time I was here, I didn’t have to show my passport.”
To which the French customs official replied:
“Impossible. Americans always have to show passports on arrival in France!”
Mr. Whiting gave this arrogant Frenchman a long hard look and then he proudly stated:
“Well when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944 to help liberate this country, I couldn’t find a single Frenchman to show a passport to!”
You could have heard a pin drop.
Great to be an American, is it not? There really is nothing greater in this whole wide world. So, my fellow citizens, proud Americans I do so sincerely hope, like Condoleezza Rice, the Boeing engineer, the US Naval Admiral, and that very special Robert Whiting, never let anyone degrade or criticize our great country. Stand up to the critics like they did and tell them, loudly and clearly how proud you are to be an American. You should do that for America will need you now more than ever. All that is made it so great is under attack. America needs YOU now more than ever to defend it. If you don’t, you will lose it.
Don’t wait for July 4th, or any other day.
BE A PROUD AMERICAN EVERYDAY!