It's shortly before eight o'clock on Sunday morning. My house is still quiet, as I am the only one awake thus far. As I sit here in my basement office typing this entry, I can feel the sunlight on my face through the window to my right. The sun is indeed out, and there's not a cloud in sight. There's a nice cool breeze gently blowing outside, and I can hear the chirping of birds and the sound of an occasional car passing through my neighborhood. No sound of children playing as of yet, but it is Sunday morning, and undoubtedly many of them are still in bed, pretending to be asleep, hoping that they can skip church this morning; maybe their parents will keep sleeping too and will get up too late to make it on time. All in all, it looks to be a great beginning for what should be a fine day.
I love this country of ours. In spite of all its flaws and peccadilloes, my beloved America is still the greatest land on Earth. Nowhere else can the common man speak his mind, even to the point of blasting our government leaders with fiery language, and fear no reprisal, save for others voicing their opinions about him. An american can read what he wants, without anyone informing the local government about his reading material, and he can talk about whatever book he's reading to whoever he desires. Hell, if he has the spending money and wishes to do so, he could buy a hundred copies and distribute them throughout his town and fear no punishment. He need fear no government agents arriving in the dead of night to "make him disappear" so that others will learn their lesson and avoid reading anything the government deems to be unacceptable or dangerous.
We have many ethnic differences, and some of our people do cry about the racism in our land, but the state of affairs is blessedly peaceful here compared to other countries. Occasionally, someone here will make an inappropriate statement and others will rise in indignation, calling him a bigot or a racist or a homophobe or religiously intolerant, and then will cry out about the intolerance and persecution in America. Those fools know not what persecution is. In Saudi Arabia, if one is not a muslim, one does not have the right to openly speak about his faith, and indeed can be arrested for so doing. Persecution? Go to China and ask Falun Gong believers about persecution. Intolerance? Go to Bosnia and see what real intolerance is like.
Nowhere else in the world can be found the level of tolerance and good will toward others as can be found here in America. Our land is not perfect, to be sure, but America does stand as a shining example of what is possible. America has Cajuns and Mormons and the Amish peoples and members of indigenous tribes and people whose ancestors have come from every corner of the globe, and they all live in peace, compared to the state of affairs in many other lands. Yes, we have problems, but they pale in comparison to the type of intolerance as can be found elsewhere. Christians here do get insulted occasionally, but they do not live in fear of the latest bloody raid. They do not possess the kind of fear held by Ethiopian christians, who constantly live in dread of the Somali Muslims, who frequently come through to terrorize and kill those not of their persuasion.
I have travelled throughout our land, and I find all of it beautiful. The Big Sur coastline in California, the beaches of Florida, the bayous and marshes of southern Louisiana, the Rocky Mountains, the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges in Washington state, the prairies and farmland in Kansas, the Great Lakes, and many other places, serve to illustrate the wonder and beauty and geologic diversity of our great country.
As I sit here, I think about all the men and women who have made our country great: Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, George Washington Carver, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, Robert E. Lee, "Chesty" Puller, Nathaniel York, Samuel Adams (the man, not the beer, though that is also great), the Wright brothers, and many, many others. I am thankful for all the men and women who have given their time and sometimes their lives to serve our land by enlisting in the military. When I stand outside and look at the small flag I have mounted on my house, my heart swells with pride and love and reverence at the thought of what America stands for and all those who have risen to the challenge and made our country stand tall.
Good morning America, and God bless everyone.