We are the land of liberty whose Statue’s flame never dims.
We crossed the mapless ocean to escape the oppression of Church and government.
We wrote a magnificent Constitution. We established laws, instituted a court system, and decreed all men free.
We created communities, towns, and cities. We built schools and hospitals and churches.
We fought foreign enemies. Helped defeat Nazis, dictators and tyrants.
We made the world safer.
We have not always been true to our ideals, but we learned and changed and became better.
We are Lincoln, Babe Ruth, Martin Luther King, Jr. We are Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Maya Angelou.
Compassion runs through our veins. We are helpers and healers, and goodness has always been our highest trait.
We believe in free and excellent public education, in equal rights, in the value of every person. Though we have not always honored these values, they remain a central part of our identity and we have always strived to fulfill them.
We are a nation of lovers and dreamers, of good Samaritans and generous humanitarians. We feel the pain of hurting Americans, and others across our shores, and we have always reached out a hand of welcome and worked to ease suffering where it exists, here or elsewhere.
We have never celebrated criminals, con artists, male chauvinists, bullies, sexual abusers, rabble rousers, tyrants, or phony patriots.
Our heroes have been writers, poets, physicians, artists, civil rights activists, thinkers, inventors, teachers, the quiet tenacious men and women who are fearless, self-disciplined, and moral, who stand up for the oppressed, the wounded, the innocent, and the forgotten.
That is not hype or pretend or naive fluff. That is who, at the heart, America has been and is.
The moving song, “Anthem,” says it for me:
“No man, no madness
Though their sad power may prevail
Can possess, conquer, my country's heart
They rise to fail
She is eternal
Long before nations' lines were drawn
When no flags flew, when no armies stood
My land was born
And you ask me why I love her
Through wars, death, and despair
She is the constant...
And you wonder will I leave her
But how?
I cross over borders but I'm still there now
How can I leave her?
Where would I start?
Let man's petty nations tear themselves apart
My land's only borders lie around my heart”
America and Americans have always been the sentinels in the night. We have been and must remain the protectors of freedom, decency, and humanity, and all who are threatened to lose them.
(c) 2020 Timothy Moody
We crossed the mapless ocean to escape the oppression of Church and government.
We wrote a magnificent Constitution. We established laws, instituted a court system, and decreed all men free.
We created communities, towns, and cities. We built schools and hospitals and churches.
We fought foreign enemies. Helped defeat Nazis, dictators and tyrants.
We made the world safer.
We have not always been true to our ideals, but we learned and changed and became better.
We are Lincoln, Babe Ruth, Martin Luther King, Jr. We are Harriet Tubman, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Maya Angelou.
Compassion runs through our veins. We are helpers and healers, and goodness has always been our highest trait.
We believe in free and excellent public education, in equal rights, in the value of every person. Though we have not always honored these values, they remain a central part of our identity and we have always strived to fulfill them.
We are a nation of lovers and dreamers, of good Samaritans and generous humanitarians. We feel the pain of hurting Americans, and others across our shores, and we have always reached out a hand of welcome and worked to ease suffering where it exists, here or elsewhere.
We have never celebrated criminals, con artists, male chauvinists, bullies, sexual abusers, rabble rousers, tyrants, or phony patriots.
Our heroes have been writers, poets, physicians, artists, civil rights activists, thinkers, inventors, teachers, the quiet tenacious men and women who are fearless, self-disciplined, and moral, who stand up for the oppressed, the wounded, the innocent, and the forgotten.
That is not hype or pretend or naive fluff. That is who, at the heart, America has been and is.
The moving song, “Anthem,” says it for me:
“No man, no madness
Though their sad power may prevail
Can possess, conquer, my country's heart
They rise to fail
She is eternal
Long before nations' lines were drawn
When no flags flew, when no armies stood
My land was born
And you ask me why I love her
Through wars, death, and despair
She is the constant...
And you wonder will I leave her
But how?
I cross over borders but I'm still there now
How can I leave her?
Where would I start?
Let man's petty nations tear themselves apart
My land's only borders lie around my heart”
America and Americans have always been the sentinels in the night. We have been and must remain the protectors of freedom, decency, and humanity, and all who are threatened to lose them.
(c) 2020 Timothy Moody
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