America, The Land of the Free

1776 American Flag Poster | Zazzle

MY…HOW WE HAVE CHANGED

 For 34 years, I have researched my own history, and as I have stated before, I realize that all of my ancestor’s footprints lead straight to my door. They have given me opportunities because of their sacrifices. If I had to say what nationality I am, I would have to say American. I have no recent immigrants. My lines have been established on American soil from the 1600s to the 1700s. Some were here before we were a nation. Today, I’m going to diverge from that journey; take a few steps back and present some of the challenges that I feel I face in today’s world.

We live and we learn, but we can only grow if we know our past history. There have been mistakes all through the ages. We have come a long way since the Revolution by making better choices for humanity. We will continue to learn and grow. Yet, there has to be some acceptance of where we have been and where we are going. We are in this together. It has been disconcerting to witness the decay of the principals for what our forefathers fought and died for. For a long time, I have known that what I believe most firmly in has been challenged.

Three most important things to me are: faith, family and my homeland. I have said for a long time that when we take God out of the equation, we have lost a huge part of our foundation. Humanity flounders when there is no belief system. A poll was recently taken to see where people stood with their faith. When asked how important faith is in their lives, the percentage has dropped from 62% in 1998 to 32% in 2023.

The family has also been in decay. The family is where core beliefs are learned and ingrained, based on a faith system of values and principles. These can not be taught in the schools. Schools are to teach children how to read and write and compute so they can become productive adults. The family teaches children how to use those tools and to stand firmly for what is right. These things help children to survive in the world and make correct choices.

And then there is America. In the poll mentioned above, patriotism has fallen even more than the other topics. It was disheartening to listen to the interviews of several young people on the beach a few days after we celebrated the birth of our great nation. In these interviews, basic questions were asked about the reasons behind this holiday. It was shocking to see that only one out of the 7 being interviewed even knew what country we fought to gain our independence, let alone know what that war was called. They didn’t have a clue as to what year the Revolution was fought, nor any knowledge of General Washington and that he was our first president. This is a scary thought to me. (There was one who knew the answers.) Our nation will fall further into decay as we are flooded with a generation that has NO knowledge of our history. They have no knowledge as to why they get to live in a nation where they are free to make choices and to work hard to achieve their goals. We MUST not forget our history.

 This post was precipitated by something that happened to me yesterday. We are free to make our choices and my choice is to live by a code of honesty, integrity, faith, dedicated work ethic…and the list goes on. When I lay down in bed at night, I’m not thinking about how I’m going to take advantage of someone, or injure someone, or scam someone or be so downright angry that I will accost someone the following day. I try each day to fill my thoughts with gratitude and appreciation for the good things in my life. I never dreamed on my way to the grocery store that I would arrive, park my car (not next to another car, but a space over) and when I emerged from my vehicle, I was verbally accosted by a gal in that said car. She was calling me names, accusing me of damaging her vehicle, that she was going to call the police and throwing the “F” bomb all over the place. My defense was to not have eye contact and to have no response. But I have to say, that with the hostile environment that we find ourselves in today, that I was scared and highly shaken by what was happening to me. It came from out of nowhere. I have to say that I feel that it was racially motivated, as she was a different race than me. She looked decent, nice clothes, nice car, but her hair was died the same color of red as Bozo the clown. It took me several hours to process this, and I have to say that I will never understand why this happened, as I did NOTHING to deserve these verbal accusations.

EXCLUSIVE: National clown shortage may be approaching, trade organizations fear (nydailynews.com)

 I will continue to have faith that our paths crossed so that I can better understand the world in which we live and use it to strengthen my faith to continue to treat people with kindness and understanding. I thank God for my forefathers, my upbringing and for knowing the difference between wrong and right.