What Do You Get for a Country That Has It All?

Dear U.S.A.  Happy Birthday!  I have struggled with finding an appropriate birthday gift for you.  After, all, what do you get for a country that has it all?  The challenge for me in finding the right gift is sorting through all the years of gift-giving you have under your belt. 

You know, when we first got to know each other, it seemed as if there were three big events that you were known for – and, turns out they were all wars!  The Revolutionary War had our first President, George Washington himself, riding that beautiful white horse and bravely leading his rag-tag bunch of upstart colonists against the British. 

Then there was a gap, filled in by those frontiersmen who cleared their way westward across the continent, until we fought the Civil War.  It was a bloody mess!  But President Lincoln found a way to keep us all together. 

Another gap followed, this time filled with more expansion and huge changes in the economy and the rise of cities, until we had General Eisenhower leading the forces of good against the forces of evil, and successfully vanquishing the Nazis and bringing a whole new era of power for you, dear U.S.A! Like Gen. Washington, Ike became a revered President who successfully transitioned from a leader of armies to a leader of nations.

I admit, those were easy celebrations to get you gifts for.  Parades, fireworks, honoring veterans.  There was so much pride and we recognized the price paid for our freedom.  Putting out the flag, saying the pledge of allegiance, and even reciting the Declaration of Independence or the Gettysburg Address could still bring tears!

It was harder after JFK was assassinated.  Great things kept happening, but it was harder to ignore the things that we hadn’t gotten right.  Still, when MLK got up to the podium for the March on Washington, when the folks finally crossed the bridge in Selma, bloodied but unbowed, when we found a way to bring the war in Vietnam to an end, and came together to mourn all those lost to AIDS – even in those horrible moments, the fact that we found a way to come together seems to have been a fitting acknowledgement for all you have meant to us.

Can’t Deny It — You’re Getting Older

I guess it is inevitable that as you age, your focus changes.  Those early years required an attitude of experimentation and willingness to try new things.  How amazing it is that we can still look back on those early days, and find things that are still true – even after 250 years?

And, yes, there are some things that no longer fit with the world we are living in today.  But you know how sentimental I am.  It’s hard to let go of some things that are still meaningful, even though they may no longer seem to apply.

You set the bar really high in the beginning.  Making those claims that all men are created equal.  Acknowledging that there are times when we have to make changes and push back against authority.  Reminds me of how parenting has changed.  Back in the day before mobile phones, when kids got into trouble and had to figure out how to get themselves out of it!  All that good advice on feeding schedule, and sleep schedules, now looked at as being so out of touch with a baby’s true needs.  But I digress . . .

Ah, the Good Old Days . . .

You know what I miss most?  Hearing about your exploits!  Listening to Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite talk about the 20^th Century and World War II.  Watching Fess Parker as Davy Crockett.  And all those Westerns on TV –

And my grandfather talking about growing up in a small town in Wisconsin, where he remembered stories his father told him about local natives coming to the back door asking for food.  And getting excited about sending astronauts into space and then being around to watch them land on the moon!

I know, I’m all over the place – but I have so many memories!

While I wasn’t around for your other big celebrations, I certainly can recall reading about them.  How the nation celebrated your first 100 years with fairs around the country.  Seems like people were taking a lot of pride in how far you had come.  With good reason!  Progress was king!

I can hear you now saying, “Slow down there, missy – there was a lot I didn’t get right along the way.”

No Hiding from the Bad Stuff

It’s true.  Things that seem to have persisted since the very start.  Always someone or some group that is targeted as being unworthy of being here.  Always some anger and resentment because of the way someone practices their faith.  Always the grift, corruption, and wheeling/dealing that leads to people needing to be removed from office or even imprisoned.

I don’t know.  Maybe that has more to do with the baggage that comes with being human than with any kind of government structure.  At least you have kept trying new things, changing the Constitution and making it better.  You can’t get around the fact that some things have taken too long, and there are still wrongs that need to be righted. 

I guess there are cycles to all of this.  After all, this isn’t the first time you have had your very foundations rattled!  Still, you seem to have a track record that at least points toward resolving our current conflicts.

You know, one thing I have learned working with folks with a few years under their belts, it’s really important to remember the core values – things like tolerance, fairness, honesty – out of these come the social behaviors, being a good listener instead of shouting, keeping your word, standing up for others when they have been wronged.  That seems to be the most important thing to remember right now.

I think I know what I’m going to get you for your birthday.  It just came to me now.  I am going to pledge allegiance to you, and to the republic you have created and maintained all these years. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.  I’m going to vote in every election, because that is the least I can do in supporting all that you given me.  And I’m going to do my best to see that we remain true to those lofty notions that Mr. Jefferson penned all those years ago:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”