As we head into the Memorial Day Weekend..
Some thoughts on this upcoming holiday....
Born as a fledgling nation, solidified by those who's belief in this country and in its foundation...while we all have many ideas...we are but one nation...
I sit at a computer, contemplating this special holiday...not a chance for a white sale, but a chance to remember the millions...yes millions...of men, women and children who died so that I can contemplate a simple holiday...
I was blessed to have no major wars fought in my "memorable" early lifetime; blessed to have only learned about them, not lived them. Today...we have even lost more men and women in the fight to keep our shores safe for our children..may our young ones lives and their country not be forever changed by those wishing to do us harm...but forever blessed by those willing to give all for this nation...
So, with honor and thanks for those who gave their lives to keep this country great..free...and most of all...ours....indulge me in a piece of prose, written by Otto Whittaker...this piece kicks off Thunder over Louisville fireworks every year..and every year at Memorial Day, I find myself hearing this in my head...and find it resonating deeply within me..
I Am the Nation
I was born on July 4, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence is my birth certificate. The bloodlines of the world run in my veins, because I offered freedom to the oppressed. To many things, and many people. I am the nation.
I am 213 million living souls-and the ghost of millions who have lived and died for me.
I am Nathan Hale and Paul Revere. I stood at Lexington and fired the shot heard around the world. I am Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry I am John Paul Jones, the Green Mountain Boys and Davy Crockett. I am Lee and Grant and Abe Lincoln.
I remember the Alamo, the Maine and Pearl Harbor. When freedom called I answered and stayed until it was over, over there. I left my heroic dead in Flanders Fields, on the rock of Corregidor, on the bleak slopes of Korea and in the steaming jungle of Vietnam.
I am the Brooklyn Bridge, the wheat lands of Kansas and the granite hills of Vermont. I am the coalfields of the Virginias and Pennsylvania, the fertile lands of the West, the Golden Gate and the Grand Canyon. I am Independence Hall, the Monitor and the Merrimac.
I am big. I sprawl from the Atlantic to the Pacific - my arms reach out to embrace Alaska and Hawaii - 3 million square miles throbbing with industry. I am more than 5 million farms. I am forest, field, mountain and desert. I am quiet villages-and cities that never sleep.
You can look at me and see Ben Franklin walking down the streets of Philadelphia with his breadloaf under his arm. You can see Betsy Ross with her needle. You can see the lights of Christmas, and hear the strains of "Auld Lang Syne" as the calendar turns.
I am Babe Ruth and the World Series. I am 110,000 schools and colleges, and 330,000 churches where my people worship God as they think best. I am a ballot dropped in a box, the roar of a crowd in a stadium and the voice of a choir in a cathedral. I am an editorial in a newspaper and a letter to a Congressman.
I am Eli Whitney and Stephen Foster. I am Tom Edison, Albert Einstein and Billy Graham. I am Horace Greeley, Will Rogers and the Wright brothers. I am George Washington Carver, Jonas Salk, and Martin Luther King.
I am Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Walt Whitman and Thomas Paine.
Yes, I am the nation, and these are the things that I am. I was conceived in freedom and, God willing, in freedom I will spend the rest of my days. May I possess always the integrity, the courage and the strength to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom and a beacon of hope to the world.
Otto Whittaker
Born as a fledgling nation, solidified by those who's belief in this country and in its foundation...while we all have many ideas...we are but one nation...
I sit at a computer, contemplating this special holiday...not a chance for a white sale, but a chance to remember the millions...yes millions...of men, women and children who died so that I can contemplate a simple holiday...
I was blessed to have no major wars fought in my "memorable" early lifetime; blessed to have only learned about them, not lived them. Today...we have even lost more men and women in the fight to keep our shores safe for our children..may our young ones lives and their country not be forever changed by those wishing to do us harm...but forever blessed by those willing to give all for this nation...
So, with honor and thanks for those who gave their lives to keep this country great..free...and most of all...ours....indulge me in a piece of prose, written by Otto Whittaker...this piece kicks off Thunder over Louisville fireworks every year..and every year at Memorial Day, I find myself hearing this in my head...and find it resonating deeply within me..
I Am the Nation
I was born on July 4, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence is my birth certificate. The bloodlines of the world run in my veins, because I offered freedom to the oppressed. To many things, and many people. I am the nation.
I am 213 million living souls-and the ghost of millions who have lived and died for me.
I am Nathan Hale and Paul Revere. I stood at Lexington and fired the shot heard around the world. I am Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry I am John Paul Jones, the Green Mountain Boys and Davy Crockett. I am Lee and Grant and Abe Lincoln.
I remember the Alamo, the Maine and Pearl Harbor. When freedom called I answered and stayed until it was over, over there. I left my heroic dead in Flanders Fields, on the rock of Corregidor, on the bleak slopes of Korea and in the steaming jungle of Vietnam.
I am the Brooklyn Bridge, the wheat lands of Kansas and the granite hills of Vermont. I am the coalfields of the Virginias and Pennsylvania, the fertile lands of the West, the Golden Gate and the Grand Canyon. I am Independence Hall, the Monitor and the Merrimac.
I am big. I sprawl from the Atlantic to the Pacific - my arms reach out to embrace Alaska and Hawaii - 3 million square miles throbbing with industry. I am more than 5 million farms. I am forest, field, mountain and desert. I am quiet villages-and cities that never sleep.
You can look at me and see Ben Franklin walking down the streets of Philadelphia with his breadloaf under his arm. You can see Betsy Ross with her needle. You can see the lights of Christmas, and hear the strains of "Auld Lang Syne" as the calendar turns.
I am Babe Ruth and the World Series. I am 110,000 schools and colleges, and 330,000 churches where my people worship God as they think best. I am a ballot dropped in a box, the roar of a crowd in a stadium and the voice of a choir in a cathedral. I am an editorial in a newspaper and a letter to a Congressman.
I am Eli Whitney and Stephen Foster. I am Tom Edison, Albert Einstein and Billy Graham. I am Horace Greeley, Will Rogers and the Wright brothers. I am George Washington Carver, Jonas Salk, and Martin Luther King.
I am Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Walt Whitman and Thomas Paine.
Yes, I am the nation, and these are the things that I am. I was conceived in freedom and, God willing, in freedom I will spend the rest of my days. May I possess always the integrity, the courage and the strength to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom and a beacon of hope to the world.
Otto Whittaker
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