Why I Love America…

By R.J. Godlewski

© June 29, 2007, All Rights Reserved*

 

 

 

            It’s not an original title, I grant you that. Still, the simplest statements are sometimes the most enduring. In fact, I’m not even supposed to be writing this article – at this time, at least. I’ve taken something of a sabbatical to finish five books that need to be completed by this fall. However, with the Fourth of July falling on a Wednesday this year, many are already departing on extended vacations. Count me amongst these; I will be spending the next week visiting my elderly parent’s and siblings.

            However, there are a few holidays that mean so much to me that I simply cannot let them pass without a word or two about their significance – even if it means blanketing them by several days to ensure that my word is known. And, my friends, our nation’s birthday is probably one of the top two or three holidays that I truly need to write about. The Fourth of July is a date that the world – yes, I said the world – should celebrate with love, dignity, family reflection, and a deep sense of admiration for its historical significance. I am, I hope, the antithesis for all of those out there who are, undoubtedly, savoring this opportunity to trash and bash the nation that I love so dearly.

            While legions of the evil and ungrateful descend upon my country like vultures ready to rip her flesh to shreds – I say flesh, for America is as much about the people that serve her as it is about the institution itself – I will not mention them here. No, this is about what I love about my country. I’ve been around, mind you; I’ve seen beautiful lands and remarkable people. Yet, it is America that has always taken away my breath whenever I think about her. It is America that endures despite others’ attempts to ridicule my personal beliefs, my life, or even that of my compatriots in compassion and humility.

            America is the nation that gave out nearly three hundred billion in charitable donations last year – nearly as much as the total domestic production of oil rich, Islam-centric Saudi Arabia  –  sixty-five percent of which coming from those who make far less than a hundred grand a year. That’s more than any other nation on the planet! Ours is the only nation that truly cares about the welfare of others without being forced to give. True, there are others who gain international notoriety for their giving, but they fall into the miniscule exception. Average Americans give not for the glory, but for it simply being the right thing to do. Whenever disaster or disease, conflict or confinement, artistic or analytical pursuits warrant financial and physical effort, our people answer the call regardless of how lacking our personal lifestyles may seem. We simply know there are people out there who have it worse off than we may. And when tyranny flaunts its vicious head, our fine men and women within the military are usually among the first to lend assistance, regardless of how ungrateful those receiving their freedom on our tab seem to be. We know and understand; we just hope that someday, all people will come to know the Great Gift that we often take for granted ourselves.

            If there is one thing that a person – any person – has to admire about America is our great diversity of peoples. No matter from which nation you hail, what race or ethnicity you comprise, or whatever religion you worship, you can find companionship here in America. In fact, the easiest way to tell the ‘newcomers’ from the tried and true citizens is that they’re usually bunched together. Only after a indeterminable period of acclamation, when the newly arrived become in tune to what this great nation of ours truly offers in the way of personal opportunity, do those who come to understand this significance move on towards individual success. It is then that they break the bonds with their ancestral past and truly become Americans.

            True, our nation has its share of faults – no institution created by humans is infallible – but there’s no better nation on this planet. No other nation that can boast of our equality, our opportunities, our political stability, or especially of our ability to mend our very faults. If this weren’t the case, millions would be trying to flee our nation instead of join her ranks. Whenever some Hollywood prima donna mouths off against our government or any of its citizens, billions throughout the rest of the world undoubtedly whimper “I wish that I could get away with that!” Whenever an ex-president or aspiring candidate states that our present sample is wholly beyond the bounds of rationality, scores of exiles undoubtedly exclaim “They don’t have to flee in fear of reprisals?” Whenever our people take to the streets to protest whatever ‘cause’ they champion,  millions throughout the world simply stare in quiet envy “Now if we only could do that!” In America, we can do that because America is based upon finding the best solution, not finding the best exclusion.

            I suppose that this is the very reason that I love America so dearly – she is simply indescribable to even those of us who grew up snuggled within her breast. America is simply not a land of boundaries and laws – though those define her very existence – she is a nation of diverse peoples, all working towards one utopian goal that, while always slightly out of reach, is never fully beyond the effort. We, each one of us citizens – sorry, I must include only legal, law-abiding residents here – can contribute their unique talents, desires, and dreams to add to the evolving mass of human characteristics that defines the indefinable.

            Our nation has an enormous capacity to absorb fault as much as those who make up this great nation of ours have the capacity to generate such fault. Whether we fail financially, legally, medically, educationally, or even in personal relationships, America is the one nation that lives to forgive. As long as we possess a heartbeat, we can still strive for the ‘American Dream’ despite our past failures. No matter from whence we came, we can all strive for the same plateau. So when you get right down to it, perhaps the one thing that I truly love about this great nation of ours is that it is the only place on the planet that can take a creative personality such as myself and render them utterly speechless. I don’t know what, exactly, that I love most about America. I just love her. Period.

 

 

Download a PDF preview of my latest novel, BOGDAN BACK FLIES AND THE CHILDREN OF DESPERATION and read about how kids can get into trouble even here in America! J

 

Download a PDF preview of my forthcoming novel, THE OPAQUE MURDERS and take a voyage into the darkest, most sinister challenges of the human mind…

 

Or…

 

Download a courtesy PDF version of my book INTEGRATED TECHNICAL WARFARE: An Organizational Guide to Creating a Corporate Counterterrorism Force and find out about how you can aid in the effort against terrorists.

 

 

Don’t forget to read about my tribute to Old Glory!