Today is America’s birthday. It’s that time of year again, the time when we look back hopefully thoughtfully, on our country. Opinions about that history and our country’s current state are as divergent as the culture and citizens it represents. In any group or any conversation, you have those who celebrate and those who dismiss, those who identify, and those who find fault with who we are and who we have been as a country.
Our country certainly has had a checkered past and is by no means perfect. While there are many things to celebrate, there have been many mistakes made along the way. There have been so many great and wonderful things that have come from this country and its people, but just as many horrors and mistakes that were made along the way. No one can deny this, but how we choose to view it, and how we choose to move forward in light of this makes all the difference.
This morning I was up early, and I ran across this video clip. It is from an old movie, well from 1993, but to many teenagers that is old. As I watched this clip and listened to his words, I was reminded why today, more than any other day, we as a country can celebrate:
His words, and the message it gives, has a more important meaning today, given where we are as a nation. Today we find ourselves fighting against one another. On opposite sides of politics, issues, and cultures, we find ourselves fighting one another. We allow politicians, individuals, and events to pit us against each other, and we forget that we are, or should be, One People, One Nation, and instead of fighting against each other, in reality, we should be fighting for one another.
There are so many things we could be working together on. So many things we do agree on. So many ways we can and should be fighting for each other not against each other. While there are many great things in our nation and about our country today, there are still many things that we must work together to change.
In a culture that is quick to cancel or remove history because of its mistakes, or dismiss our country because of past wrongs, maybe some of these past mistakes should be taught, so we can learn something from them, and then, celebrate not only who we are as a nation, but all that we have walked through and all that has been overcome. Imagine today if each of us took the attitude that this Colonel took. Imagine how the world would be different? Imagine the change we could effect if we were fighting for each other instead of against each other?
As you celebrate today, remember America for who she is. Remember the good she has done, and the mistakes she’s made. As you celebrate today, look at the good that is happening around this great land, but also at the things that need to change. Let that be something that drives you forward and encourages you to fight for each other and not against each other, and let us truly be one nation again, because we truly are, or should be, fighting for each other.
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