Grateful for America...

America, the Beautiful

Today is not my finest day as a citizen.

I did not plant a flag in my yard. I’m not having a traditional barbecue. I’m not playing patriotic music (though I can sing the national anthem by memory, and quite nicely, if I may) or eating patriotic pie.

I am not in the US today. I am out of the country, finally keeping a commitment i made many years ago.

I am grateful for America.

I am grateful for the America that welcomed my grandparents and parents on its shores as immigrants to this country in 1953.

I am grateful for the America that bore witness to their stories of surviving the Holodomor, brutal Soviet oppression, and the horrors of the Nazis who occupied Ukraine.

I am grateful for the America that enrolled us in their public schools and gave us all access to education and labor.

I am grateful to the America that saw public education as a golden opportunity to challenge all students to excel so that someone like my father - who did not have a college degree - could still obtain the skills to become an excellent engineer (thank you, Lane Tech in Chicago).

I am grateful to the America that allowed my family to have loud political arguments on our patio without sending thugs to eliminate enemies of the state because debate keeps you sharp and demands that you view your opponent as your equal.

I am grateful for a country that can produce PhDs from families who live at the poverty level.

I am grateful for a country that welcomes immigrants because they will enrich the people.

I am grateful for the American people who express their values by their deeds - for taking care of their neighbors and making community for those who don’t belong anywhere.

I am grateful for the spectacular American landscape.

Golden Gate Yellowstone National Park, photo by Acroterion

I am grateful for the America that has a way of making beautiful music in each and every generation.

I am exceedingly proud that my father and uncle served in the United States armed forces.

I will honor my late wife’s service to America by representing our nation and its commitment to save lives wherever it was needed throughout the world at USAID.

I honor the flag that was wrapped around her coffin and presented to me by the St. Paul Fire Department following a formal escort in 2021 - after she died while serving this country.

I also honor the self-sacrifices of her colleagues, having borne witness to their rigorous commitment to delivering lifesaving aid in horrific emergencies, and will continue to bear witness to the truth of their contributions.

I pledge as an American to celebrate our accomplishments, to contribute to building a democratic nation-state, to learn from our errors, and to repent of our national sins.

God bless you, America, on your 250th birthday.

I close with an instrumental - the inimitable Jimi Hendrix playing the Star Spangled Banner.