I kind of made a pact with myself that I was going to keep politics out of my blogs, but in light of this most awesome election, I feel I need to let something out that has been eating at me for a long time! (Non-Obama supporters, I encourage you to read to the end.)
At the beginning of President-Elect Obama’s campaign for the presidency, right after he won the primaries and it was evident he was going to be up against Senator McCain, his wonderful wife, Michelle Obama, came under fire for her remarks regarding being proud of her country. Sadly, the Republicans took it completely out of context, even though I feel positive they knew good and well what she really meant. She said something to the tune of “For the first time in my adult life, I am really proud of my country.” Not meaning she was never proud, just prouder that day ... prouder now. For minorities in this country (and I don’t just mean in the sense of color), that is a very true statement. I for one agree with it.
I can say that I am proud to have been born here in the United States instead of somewhere else that may have been (and still is) war-torn. I am a child of the 1970s and 1980s. I am glad that I was not born in South Africa. I can also say that I am proud—rather glad—that I was born in the part of the country I was born in because I was raised around many different cultures and religions and learned tolerance and inclusion at a young age. I wasn’t born in the Deep South, where I live now and still see blatant racism and exclusion as if we never moved beyond the Civil Rights movement!
There have been things in this country’s history that I am not so proud of and frankly embarrassed about. Some of those things happened recently ... not decades ago (like you are probably thinking). While we do live in a great nation, we are not perfect and let’s face it—some of the folks who came before us did some despicable things to minorities, to women, to homosexuals, to non-Christians ... some of it is still going on, whether or not we wish to acknowledge it. We wrap ourselves up in the “stars and stripes” and tell the world we are “the great American melting pot,” that we are “the land of the free,” that we really do open our doors to the “tired, poor, huddled masses,” that we are “united.” It is almost as if God said, “Oh yeah, prove it!”
Yesterday, I woke up a proud American. Proud the way I should be—not just when our Olympians bring home the gold, silver, and bronze. I have a sense of pride for this country that I have never felt before in my entire life! Yes, I feel proud that someone who looks like me is our Commander in Chief ... but that is a whole different kind of pride. The pride I speak of now is pride in the fact that we actually truly stood as a nation of all races, religions, ages, etc. and demanded that we get the America that we have dreamed of and were promised. We embraced our differences and believed with all of our hearts and souls, “United we stand, divided we fall!”
God Bless America!
