HYPHENATED AMERICANS - NOT AMERICANS AT ALL!
Date: Thursday, April 04 @ 23:52:00 CST Topic: Patriotism
Those who have made careers out of dividing the American people, one ethnic group against another, have done a great disservice to our country. Some have insisted on becoming Americans with a hyphen preceded with the name of a country or a continent to which they have ancestral ties. Teddy Roosevelt who could have represented himself as could I as a "Dutch- American" chose not to do so, and in fact once stated "There is no such things as a hyphenated American, either you are an American, or you are not"!
I remember the "good old days" when our
high school assemblies started with a devotion, a prayer and a
salute to the flag of our country. Back then, during World War
II, we all were proud to be just plain old Americans. Nearly
half-century later, I can't see that there have been any ill
effects on any of my generation as a result of our reverence
for God and Country.
Around America, we have those who
pound the drum of "Separation of church and state", yet then
the chips are down, even those seem to be joining the rest of
us in publicly and privately praying for our friends,
families, loved ones, our country, its leaders and all that we
hold dear - all that embodies what we call FREEDOM. Religious
and ethnic tolerance seemed to blossom, at least for a while.
It is ironic that it took thousands of lives, billions
of dollars and untold, un-measurable heart aches to bring us
back to where we should have been long ago. In the planes, in
the rubble and among those who have donated thousands of hours
working in what they call, "the pile", there were and are no
Native-Americans, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans,
Irish-Americans or any other Americans with hyphens. In the
horrific explosions of one day, September 9, 2001, the hyphens
were evaporated. All became proud to be united once again as
Americans!
From east to west, north to south,
Americans put aside petty bickering and for a while put
political party business on hold, disregarded religious
differences and united. If uniting the people of these United
States is long lasting and real rather than a temporary thing,
those who died will not have died in vain. They will have made
contributions to our great land equal to those who fought and
died in all of America's wars. Each and everyone of them will
deserve a hero's's recognition in the pages of history.
All of us have had our eyes opened wide. We are
appreciating the freedoms we had much more, now that they have
been altered. We've been made more aware of our own mortality.
We have viewed the effects of death and destruction in our own
country rather than in a land far away.
As a people
united, we can each do our part, be it ever so small, in the
rebuilding of our country. If we all would work to minimize
bringing problems and strife into the lives of others; if we
start to smile more and frown less; praise more and gripe
less, love more and hate less, the end result will be that we
have more time to smell the roses.
This doesn't mean
we should be soft on those who mindfully took the lives of
thousands of Americans. The United States of America must lead
and participate in a campaign to root out and destroy
terrorists in every quadrant of the world. It is something
that has to be done. But at the same time, we must always
remember, no mother in any country wants her son or daughter
to die in a pointless or political way, so we must pick
carefully the battlefields upon which we fight. We must
solidly resolve that when the men and women of the United
States of America are required to fight, it will be with our
total support of all of us as Americans, and with a clear
objective.....TO WIN THAT FIGHT!
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