Land of the free; home of the brave
January 28, 2011 (Friday)
The United States has a crime problem, but not like Mexico, where the situation might well be described as “war.” The latest news of a missionary shot and killed is chilling.
The United States has a heated political situation. Parties battle each other with words. New groups, like the Tea Party, arise and make their voices heard. Occasionally, there are assassinations and incidents of violence, but they are rare in this country. Mobs fill the streets in Egypt today, clamoring for political change. They want a new president. In the United States, regular elections take the place of street violence. Change is orderly.
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Such statements as this one by Wendell Phillips echo down through the history of this nation. Never think that we are so different from other nations that anarchy and revolution cannot come to us. Germany had a constitution and strict political processes until the people were willing to give power to a man who promised to save them from their many troubles. After he won appointment to a position of power, the nation ceased having elections.
Irving Berlin was a little Jewish boy from the Ukraine. His father died shortly after moving to the United States. The little boy joined his siblings in working wherever he could, bringing home to his mother small amounts of money in coins, which she collected in her apron. Before he attained success and fame, he struggled to stay alive, but he saw opportunity and freedom here, and he loved this country. He wrote many songs, but none better than “God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night with a light from above.”
“America! America! God shed His grace on thee. And crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea!”