** I don’t think I’ve ever been political on this blog. We don’t really have much separation between our professional and personal lives, but I definitely don’t invite any drama to this space. However, I am a writer first, and the current state of the world has drawn me to not only do a lot of research, but to be very outspoken on Facebook. Great conversations have resulted. My thoughts today are a bit long for a Facebook, and perhaps a little “political”… but I choose to believe they are simply reflective, grateful, and most of all hopeful. I hope the words I write, however insignificant they might actually be, reach someone’s ears who needs to hear them. I am unimportant, but I believe my voice is not… none of our voices are unimportant.**
It’s Thanksgiving. A time when we pause to remember what we’re grateful for, and talk about the founding of our great nation.
When we, the people now known as Americans, got to this country, we were running. And some of us did some pretty terrible things to the people who were already here… out of fear, out of desperation, out of ignorance.
And from that pain, America was born. A place where ALL can be free, where we can believe what we want to believe. America : where there’s no state-sponsored religion. Where my children can audibly thank God for their food before they eat their lunch, and others can choose not to. Where some of my weddings are performed in the name of Jesus, others in the name of Allah, some in the name of love alone. Where I, as a woman, can own a business, and get tattoos, and wear whatever the heck I want to, and where others are totally allowed to think I’m insanely inappropriate. (They’re probably right.)
I am thankful for America. So very very thankful for the legacy of freedom, the heritage of not only tolerance, but CELEBRATION of difference. America is the Home of the belief that it takes all kinds to make a truly successful nation.
Happy Thanksgiving, America. May we remember our roots, be grateful for our freedom, and keep fighting to protect that promise for all who live here, those on their way, and those still dreaming of a day when they too can be called Americans. This is still the land of opportunity, just like it was when that ship finally landed and our ancestors drew their first breath of free air, and thanked their God for bringing them here safely.
We are ALL so blessed to be here.
This is a few days late but I thought this deserved a comment. You spoke the truth. One of my favorite lines from The American President has been on my mind a lot lately because it is the truth: “America isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms.”
I love all of this. The photos are gorgeous and the words are poignant and absolute truth and so very you.