I LOVE AMERICA!

By -
I love America. I love the freedoms we have-even when we feel confined. I love our openness, our diversity, our love of life in all its forms...I love how we mix and mingle and make the most out of our situations--even when something is going terribly wrong. But mostly, I love our heroism...and our steadfast determination to reach for the stars--to dream the impossible dream...because dreams really do come true--if we simply believe...in the dream, that all men and women are created equally...with equal probabilities and possibilities-- to pull off the miraculous.

I was a child of integration...a product of the public school system in the 70's....when busing and mixing the masses into one poi pourri of human goulash seemed like a good idea---to someone-somewhere. In theory-it would promote understanding, fellowship and the equality that some were being denied. But in reality, it promoted division and disappointment and dumb misunderstanding.

The African American kids were bused across town to my school...while my little sister and her buddies were bused across town to their school...To us-it didn't make sense, didn't add up...didn't make any of us feel warm and fuzzy or ready to face the school day with vim and vigor. Most of the time there were bitter arguments, fist fights and full day suspensions for the sparring students. I was one of them. But that's another story.

Kids, however- are resilient--and we made it through those hazy, crazy school days...And now as I look back...I can't help but wonder-what my counterparts from across town are thinking today...How joyful, euphoric...and downright proud they must be--at the Democratic process...and of their country...for saying yes to the dream...that any man or woman can be elected President of the United States. That in a nation, where prejudice and racism led to human slavery...and the slavery of the soul...that this nation has freed itself from the wicked wounds of wanting to be better than our neighbor...that we have now announced to the world...that freedom truly rings across this great land...because true freedom begins in the heart--of every man, woman and child...and is generously shared with our most precious gift--the vote of our conscience.

I have traveled the world...lived here and there...and everywhere...including abroad--but there is no land like the good ole U.S.A...and I love my country...especially today...for the courage and the conviction...and the heroism-that sets us apart...but also brings us together in a spectacular show of unity and good old fashioned guts and glory!

God Bless America!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OUR LADY OF JOY, HANCEVILLE ALABAMA

By -
Image
High atop a hill in Hanceville Alabama, broken hearts are being healed and hope is being restored. Our Lady of Joyful Hope is a community of young men who are finding new freedom through a life of authentic truth. Once lost in the darkness of addiction they are now living in the light of Christ who is transforming them from the inside out...And their families, if they are open and willing, are being transformed right alongside them. Recently, I spent three days with this community, listening to the young men, their parents and to the foundress, Mother Elvira, who flew in from Italy for the anointing of the new community house and the celebration that followed. Mother Elvira's life story is on par with Mother Teresa. She is an Italian nun who heard the call from God to snatch souls from Satan by delivering young men and women from the demonic grip of addiction. She gave up everything familiar, walked straight into the wilderness and wound up becoming a living legacy for desperate fa
Read more

HRUSHIV UKRAINE: APPARITIONS OF THE BLESSED MOTHER

By -
Image
Twenty four years ago today, April 27, 1987 the Blessed Mother allegedly appeared in Hrushiv Ukraine with a warning and words of consolation. She came on the Feast of the Ascension, exactly one year after the nuclear reactor disaster at Chernobyl saying "Do not forget those who have died...Chernobyl is a reminder and a sign for the whole world." In 1990 while producing a television documentary in Ukraine, I visited Hrushi and interviewed a handful of people who had witnessed the apparition above the church of the Holy Trinity. In all, some five hundred thousand witnesses claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary over a four month period. Mary apparently told them she came to thank the Ukrainian people because they had suffered so much at the hands of a raging lion who had been prowling around seeking whom he could devour. She said their suffering would come to an end and one day Ukraine would become an independent state. She then urged disciplined, Christian fortitude, "
Read more

CONFESSIONS OF FATHER JOE BENSON

By -
As we sat in silence, meditating...I nudged my friend Terri, "What do we have to complain about?!" I whispered. There he hung, pain stricken, vulnerable in his nakedness, sharp thorns cutting into his head, pleading eyes fixed on the heavens. What I thought, on God's green earth, do I have to complain about?! That's probably why they do it...place the life like crucifix dead center-above the altar, just above the Blessed Sacrament, right where you can't miss it...just to remind us-things could be worse, but they're destined to get better-if we keep our eyes focused-on the solution. Another friend-likes to remind me-he's not on the cross anymore...So why do we keep him there? Every one's got an opinion, but to tell you the truth, I need to be reminded of the sacrifice...and every painful moment in between. Puts my problems in perspective...helps me see clearly...gives me strength to proceed. We went to first Friday adoration in the upper ninth ward..
Read more