I want to say something that doesn’t get mentioned enough in the “land of the free and the home of the Sooners.”
God bless America.
I recently drove to San Antonio for my brother’s graduation from Air Force Basic Training, and at no other point in my life (except for maybe the OU-Texas Tech game last year) have I felt the hair-raising, shoulder-shimmy-inducing chills of pride that I felt at the graduation parade.
Among the families watching the parade, there were no divisions of color. Red and blue did not represent locations along the political spectrum, but rather they stood as two of the three colors on the flag being saluted.
And black and white represented only the ink on the Constitution our service members pledged to uphold.
Everybody was nothing more, or nothing less, than a proud American.
The graduation ceremony I witnessed was an excellent reminder that, despite all the doom and gloom showered upon us by the media and fellow citizens, we still live in the greatest nation in the world.
We certainly believed in that statement in grade school when we defended every rude or selfish act with the phrase, “It’s a free country!” We said the pledge every day. We sang, “This Land is Your Land.”
Well that land, “from the Redwood Forests to the Gulf Stream Waters,” is still a pretty great place to live. The country is still based on “liberty and justice for all.” America is still a “free country,” in the best sense of the term.
So add your favorite version of an American tune to your iPod and give it the recognition it deserves. Give a toast to America. High-five a random ROTC member. Do something once in a while to remind you how fortunate we are to live here.
The next time you hear “The Star Spangled Banner,” think about it a little bit. Don’t let the National Anthem become akin to the meaningless but obligatory “How are you?” of our passing greetings.
Instead, think about a friend or family member in the military. Or about the unlimited opportunities you have to chase “the American Dream.”
Think about how far the nation has come, from slavery to having a black president. Or give the government a silent shout-out (Too many taxes, but still less than France. Good roads are nice. Thanks, gov.).
Take a minute to think about the repressed families stuck in a corrupt nation. Pray for the countries in Africa and central Asia that are destroyed by illness because their people have no access to clean water.
Think about the children in the Middle East who are educated in Taliban recruitment schools.
I know I’m not saying anything you didn’t know before. You know all about why America is great, and you have likely known since elementary school.
But do you ever think about it anymore? Every once in a while, it’s nice to be reminded.
My brother’s graduation was that reminder to me, and I hope that, however less inspirational it may be, this column will encourage you to give America the gratitude it deserves.
So when you hear the National Anthem at the next OU football game, if nothing else, think about how lucky you are just to be watching football.
And if you end the song with “Sooners,” consider the importance of the first 80 words in giving you the freedom to say whatever you want in the last.
Appreciate, and then celebrate.
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
Flips88 2 years, 8 months ago
FUN FACT OF THE DAY: Woody Guthrie was a communist. "This Land is Your Land" is referring to his belief in public property, not private property. Oh, and don't forget the oft erased last verse:
"In the squares of the city, In the shadow of a steeple; By the relief office, I'd seen my people. As they stood there hungry, I stood there asking, Is this land made for you and me?"
dio 2 years, 8 months ago
@ Achilles
So true, I noticed the double mistake after posting. English is just my third language after all.
Supersooner 2 years, 8 months ago
Yeah, take that Mohamed Dio! Take that Dr. Janowiakstein! If you hate America so much, why don't you go back to Texastan!
dio 2 years, 8 months ago
"Think about the children in the Middle East who are educated in Taliban recruitment schools."
So, the actual Afghan education system consists in Taleban training camps and full metal jacket diplomas, huh?
Anyway, you do not need to go as far as Africa and "other countries like such as" to stumble upon places that have no access to clean water. You should be proud to know you have the very same things at home. Appreciate, and then celebrate indeed!
And tax-laden countries like France... tsk tsk tsk. No wonder they have a better health-care system and universities one hundred times cheaper than here.
Next time I chill out with my military friends I will certainly think about your glorious patriotic column and how OU football is teaching us about these un-American countries that surround us.
JJanowiak 2 years, 8 months ago
And when you think about those Taliban madrassas, think about the devastation wrought by America on a country it failed to rebuild, and an ill-coordinated NATO effort that bungled reconstruction, didn't secure the support of the Pashto populace, and facilitated a return to insurgency by the Taliban.
This whole editorial is a disgusting teary-eyed nationalist claptrap that shows how little history you really know. Black president? Great, but we still have a whole lot of racial inequality. Taliban? Yeah, we don't have that but we have destroyed two countries under a doctrine of preemption that has not made is substantially safer. High-five an ROTC member? The military is fighting an imperial war and your everyday soldier fights because of a lack of opportunity, not love of country. And think about you: it must be nice to be privileged. Ever wonder what it might feel like to be on the bottom with no opportunities and no way out?
America is a good place but you make it worse by being an empty-headed patriot who prays for other countries without thinking about the role of Western power in making them weak and corrupt. Empty slogans are empty but seem full for rubes who need something to latch on to.
ShawnMNeal1991 2 years, 8 months ago
This is a great column. As a person who has lived at the bottom, you capture what America is quite well. Yes there is a bit of racial inequality(mostly towards the white male), but we still live in a country with oppurtunity for everyone. Do you ever here of any other countries with an illegal immigration problem like ours, no becuase everyone wants to be here instead of anywhere else. And to those who talk about the destruction we caused on other countries, who was it that wreck to planes into buildings killing thousands of our citizens. Have you forgotten how you felt that day? How it felt to see your own land under fire and her people blown away. ( yes that is a line from Darly Whorley's " Have you Forgotten?") They attack us and got the wrath of the most powerful military in the world for their efforts. And Hussein should've learned to keep his damn mouth shut after '91. We have brought great freedom to 2 nations that never that it before. Yes, the war has caused countless lives and untold amounts of money, but every those people over there appreciate what we are doing, so who are you to talk this nation down. If you don't support this nation then get the hell out. God Bless OU, and God Bless the United States of America.
eightbitgirl 2 years, 8 months ago
So you went to a military graduation (the military is a socialist organization,) sang a song written by a Communist, and got all teary-eyed over THE GREATEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD, ARE COUNTRY.
You know what would make this country great? If people would admit that we've got some serious flaws instead of sticking their heads in the sand and saying "la la la black president no racism, la la la spreading democracy is the best thing we can do, la la la everyone loves us and those who don't are TERRISTS!" Sending people over to the Middle East to fight two wars that will never end because people see us as spreading our "culture" by force is a great example of Einstein's definition of insanity.
JJanowiak, dio, and Flips88 got it exactly right.
freak197 2 years, 8 months ago
i love the fact that the people who comment on these articles are more intelligent then those writing them. maybe we should have a paper that looks at both side rather then the conservative side were your with them or your a terriost.
Supersooner 2 years, 8 months ago
Wow! You know, I feel the same “hair-raising, shoulder-shimmy-inducing chills of pride” when the Sooners score a touchdown and our fight song rings triumphantly. It sure takes a lot of courage these days to express one’s love for America as boldly and elegantly as you have. God bless you, Daily columnist! God bless America, and God bless OU! (Beat Texas! Whoop, Whoop!)
dio 2 years, 8 months ago
@ ShawnMNeal1991
"Do you ever here of any other countries with an illegal immigration problem like ours, no becuase everyone wants to be here instead of anywhere else."
Such a wonderful grammar and spelling! Anyway, to answer your question, the other countries facing such immigration problems are: Australia, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, etc.
"And to those who talk (...) If you don't support this nation then get the hell out. God Bless OU, God Bless the United States of America."
My guess is that you are not an English major, definitely. Regarding the (moronic) content of this paragraph, I have to say, good sir, that it must have been drafted by nobody else than the archetypal inept cretin who naively lives in a binary world. To sum up your fine point of view: the un-American world is populated by backward, filthy and smelly islamican hunchbacks and we must teach them all the good stuff we have at home AFTER we carpet-bomb their crops, cattle, refugees, schools, hospitals, women and children, sicks and elderly, their neighbors and everyone else breathing in their general direction. After all, they must deserve it since they are not American and that everyone knows they are stashing weapons of mass destruction behind the pieces of cardboard that they call "home".
Did it ever came to your mind that raw power and bullet-talking alone is not enough to stop terrorism? Don't you think wise prevention, good education and economic growth can be more powerful at stopping the spread of violent and backward movements inside foreign populations? Do you REALLY think Americans are now greeted with open arms in the Middle East and that everyone appreciate our good democracy lessons? Have you ever tried to figure out how Iraq was related, even remotely, to 911 or Al Qaeda? Do you know that 11% of the victims of the 911 attacks were not Americans? Do you know that hundreds of people died of terrorist attacks in allied countries and that 911 is not just an American problem? Did I just fried your brain right now?
Achilles 2 years, 8 months ago
"Did it ever came to your mind that raw power and bullet-talking alone is not enough to stop terrorism? Did I just fried your brain right now?"
I find it rather amusing when an insufferable pedant ridicules the grammatical knowledge of another person and then embarrassingly goes on to make a fool of himself by making an elementary mistake not once, but twice in the same paragraph. Did you "noticed" your mistake, Mr. Dio?
ShawnMNeal1991 2 years, 8 months ago
@ Dio
No, I'm not a english major, and honestly I don't care what grammatical errors I made. After all Im writing a comment to a column, not a frigin research paper.
You have my view on the rest of the world completely wrong. You are accussing me of things I didn't say, and if you are gping to do so you might want to back up your accusations
Did i ever say anything about WMD's. No I don't think we invaded Iraq over WMD's, we invaded because Saddamn Hussein ran his mouth after 9/11 and all he managed was pissing us off. He ran his mouth and got the noose for his effort.
I never said we were greeted with open arms, I said that the people in the Middle East were appreciative. Its obvious that some of them don't like us, but the majority of them like what we are doing.
I really liked this statment you made: "Don't you think wise prevention, good education and economic growth can be more powerful at stopping the spread of violent and backward movements inside foreign populations?" I agree with you completlely, but who is going to try and educate or talk to people who are shooting and trying to bomb them? Sometimes you have to do the thing that you least want to do before you help someone.
Even if 11% of the victims of the 9/11 attacks were foriegn people that still leaves someting like 2670 americans that died that day, while a measley 300 something foreigns died. I feel for their families loss, but we were attacked on our soil. And while hundreds of thousands have been killed due to terrorism, we are trying to stop terrorism. If people want it to stop, why don't they try and help us instead of making it harder? We are the most haated country because we are actually doing something right instead of surrendering to evil.
Finally, no you did not fry my brain, as evidently in my rebuttal. So GOd Bless OU, and God Bless The United States of America.
P.S. May God comfort those who today is painful due to the attacks eight years ago. My Prayers and heart goes out to you all.
dio 2 years, 8 months ago
@ ShawnMNeal1991