America the Beautiful

  What is America? Or rather : who are we, Americans, as a nation? This is a question I am seeking out answers to always. Perhaps a better way to phrase it would be : who do we want to be?

  After all, we are a nation who is supposed to decide, rather than have someone decide for us, who we want to be. Our ideals, our motives, our morals, our outreach and our limitations are entirely decided by us. Because of this however, it can also go to waist the second we decide not to take responsibility for our nation anymore.

  We tend to blame all of the problems in our nation on those who do not have the same moral beliefs that we do. Those who oppose our views and choose to do something about it.
  Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of the political, moral and ethical problems our nation currently has are due, in part, to this. But I think just as much of the blame falls on those who have the moral obligation to be involved ( because this is our nation ) but simply, don't. That means you and me.

 Dietrich Bonhoeffer said:

" Silence in the face of evil, is evil itself : God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak, is to speak. Not to act, is to act."


When he said this he was in the wake of a morally devastated country. Ridden with hatred, malice and much death. He understood that during Adolph Hitler's rise to power the people were on Hitler's side. And that they were on Hitler's side, because Hitler knew exactly what to say to an otherwise uninvolved majority of people. Because they were not self educated or rightly educated it was very easy for him to feed them lies and sway their opinions and passions.
 Bonhoeffer knew this and tried his best to turn the tide, but to no avail. He even had the opportunity to stay in America where he would be safe for the rest of his life after provoking Hitler himself through assassination attempts. But he chose to go back, because he did not want to abandon his country to a tyrant. He risked his life several times and eventually died for this cause, for his country.
 
  And we think that standing in our back yards having a BarBQ with friends while waving American flags around makes us patriots?

 Again, don't get me wrong. We were meant to celebrate on this day! After all John Adams said on July 3rd of 1776 :

  "But the Day is past. The Second Day of July 1776 (the day the Continental Congress approved a resolution for independence), will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

    "It ought to be commemorated..", but let that not be the extent of our patriotism.
 
  I know there is good reason to hate politics. It's dirty and tangled and messy and a lot of the times completely immoral and hard to keep up with. I know this because I've been making an effort to keep up with it since I was sixteen years old. But it's very necessary.
  I know it doesn't feel like anything we do will not make that much of a difference to the entire nation. But it is essential that we act on behalf of good. Our nation needs us to hold fast to the truths we were founded on, so that we don't lose them entirely.

 As with anything, being a good citizen in our nation starts in the heart. Who do you want to be? Someone who pretends all of these problems don't exist? Or someone who takes them head on and fights with truth and dignity?

 I have decided that I truly love this country. For her people, her morals ( the ones we were founded on ;) ), her hope and everything else that has brought people here for hundreds of years.

 We are a nation who accepts anyone, brings them in, protects them, takes care of them, gives them an opportunity for new life away from whatever oppression they faced before. We give people the benefit of a doubt, we uphold standards of justice, we fight for the freedom we once claimed. We know that no one man is greater than another, and that everyone has the right to choose what they will believe. The right to say what they believe, the right to live freely.
  We know the value of a life and the value of those who are different from us. Our lady of liberty stands in our northern harbor where she's welcomed people from around the world for hundreds of years as a light and a hope for them.

I love this country because she is close to my heart. And I will strive to serve her and her people well. So Happy Birthday America, may your shores always be welcoming, your people always humble and your values never forgotten.

Below is a sonnet written by American poet Emma Lazarus in 1883, which was placed on a plaque underneath the statue of liberty in 1903.


                                                       The New Colossus

 

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

            Below is one of my favorite versions of "My country 'tis of thee." By 17 year old Abby Anderson. Take a look and see what you think. ;)