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Today, I would like to give my tribute to America. Yes, the land of the free and the home of the brave. I love my home, America.

There are many in this world who would scoff at those words, many who would sneer at my homeland, believing they would be better off without it. Yet, for those who long for freedom, those held under tight regimental control, where do their hearts long to go? Where do their dreams take them when they think of freedom? Yes, it is AMERICA! This land was chosen to be a place where “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.”* This is the land of the free and the brave. This country was founded on freedom, on liberty and on the pursuit of happiness. For those who live in this land and get angry at these words, I truly wonder why they still live here! Why stay in a country that you so clearly hate? However, I digress. This post today is not meant to be a rant. It is meant to be a tribute; so, let me pay honor where honor is due! 😉

I LOVE this land of freedom! I can worship freely. I can go where I please. I can do as I please (within the laws of reason). I can choose to pursue whatever course in life I’d like. I can be whomever I choose to be. If I want to be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a construction worker, a CEO, a fireman, a retail salesperson, or even a fast food worker, I can be any of these. If I want to pursue a life long dream of singing or a momentary whim of sailing across the ocean, I can do it. The only things that will stop me is my own limitations of dreaming and my own will power to pursue those dreams. This is the beauty of freedom.

Yes, I know we’ve got our problems. I’m not blind. I know there’s people who don’t appreciate this land nor the people who work hard to make it what it is, but that’s not my point today. Sometimes, you’ve got to step out of the darkness to truly see the light again. Often, we must re-shift our focus when there’s so much turmoil and remember the reason we got in this to begin with. This country was founded for freedom. This country was founded on hard work and pride in a nation of diversity and respect for the pursuit of a dream. These are the things upon which this country was built. Let’s get back to the main thing! Sometimes, I wonder if we’ve forgotten the goodness and wonder in the dream of a better future, because we’ve gotten so entangled in the futuristic dream someone else said we should have… (another thought for another day!)

I LOVE this land of beauty! There is an “old” song, sung by Lee Greenwood, that perfectly sums up my love for the beautiful land called America. He says, “From the lakes of Minnesota, To the hills of Tennessee, Across the plains of Texas, From sea to shining sea, From Detroit down to Houston, And New York to L.A., Where’s pride in every American heart, And it’s time we stand and say, God Bless the USA!” The beauty of this land is as diverse as the people who live here. If you long for snow, just travel north long enough, and you’ll find it. If the beach is more your style, just travel South, you’ll find it. Maybe green rolling “hills” (this term is relative to what you call a hill or a mountain) and Shenandoah Valleys are more your speed, or maybe you prefer peaks as high as the clouds, and tree as big as a house or maybe it’s beautiful plains that stretch for as far as the eye can see. Well, we’ve got it all, just find a map and start your travels! America is where it’s at! No matter, if you’re looking for the city and the night life or the ranch and the country life. It’s all here in this great big land of opportunity!

So, today, I call myself BLESSED to be an American, and I consider myself blessed to be living here in this wonderful land of the free! These are just a few reasons I love this wonderful place! There’s nowhere else I’d rather be. Who’s with me?? 🙂

*Declaration of Independence (found here)

Don’t you miss the days when you actually had to have singing to sell an album…when the music had to be live and in sync? Don’t you miss the day when you had to act, sing AND dance to obtain the role in a movie? Don’t you miss the days when you had to be a true patriot to become president…when the politicians had to love God, Family, and Country to succeed in office? Don’t you miss the days when the kids started their school days with The Pledge To Allegiance and ended the day with their bedtime prayers? Don’t you miss the days of fresh milk, fresh farm eggs, fruits and veggies…when it was easy to find less ingredients with better quality?

In all our striving to achieve and gain more, I think maybe we’ve lost something and gained less. Sure, I love the new technology, the new lights and the new transportation. I am blogging via internet right now, and we drive two new 2013 vehicles; so, I am definitely not anti-improvement nor anti-success! I just think, sometimes, in all our seeking the new, we tend to throw out some really good “old things” …like quality service and hardworking attitudes and homemade biscuits and farm grown produce and character, integrity and authenticity. Yeah, this list might not seem to “flow” right when looked at first glance, but stay with me a minute.

I didn’t grow up on a farm, and I wasn’t raised to make homemade biscuits, but when I’ve visited a well working farm, and I’ve eaten warm, homemade biscuits slathered with butter and a touch of honey, it sure reminds me of home. When I sit down to watch an old western or an old black and white Audrey Hepburn movie, it sure makes me think of goodness in the world. When I see an old veteran, tattered and worn from the memories of the war, it surely makes me appreciate him a little more, and it creates within me a grateful heart that my babies still live in a free country today. When I do hear the rare moment of an elementary-aged child reciting his Pledge of Allegiance with strength and dignity, my heart swells with pride, and I stand a little taller, knowing someone else still holds my heartland dear.

Yeah, maybe I am just old before my time, and maybe I just need to get to caught up with the “latest and greatest,” or maybe, just maybe, I’m onto some profound truth….think about it.