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More On The Fourth: "To Our Country!"
By Lt Col P
We asked Olga, our loyal reader, frequent commenter, gun-slinger and good friend, to write us a guest post on the 4th of July, since she has a unique persepctive as a naturalized citizen, an American by choice. Here she is!
4th of July, the Independence Day, America’s birthday. “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…” These are the words that make all tyrannies shake in their boots, whether it is a one-man show or a systemic one. These words put ideas in plebs and make them yearn for more than bred and circuses. But our Founders did not stop at the words and ideas; they fought for them and actually built a country based on those same ideas. The country that became a beacon to others…
As a person born 191 years later and in a very different country, I celebrate this day as my own Independence Day – it gave me the country that became my light at the end of the tunnel, sometimes a very dark and long tunnel. Even its imperfections did not diminish the light for it is still better than anything else out there. The date I came to the States was the happiest day in my life. We celebrate this date every year, it is our second birthday. Regardless of what we had to deal with, even in some dark hours, I have never regretted coming to this country.
I KNOW that if I work hard I can achieve anything I want and the fruits of my labor, whether physical or mental, won’t be taken away from me by the state (no matter how we harp about our taxes, they are nothing compared to the actual confiscation of one’s property because one is not toeing the party line or worships a wrong God or worships at all). In fact, I celebrate the Independence Day by working today and making money :o) I KNOW my life cannot be taken away without a fair trial. I KNOW I can safely express my dissatisfaction with the current government, without fear of being awaken in the middle of the night and taken away for good. I KNOW I can vote the unsatisfactory government out and bring another one in to clean up the mess, without living through a tank shelling of the Capitol/White House. I KNOW that I won’t wake up in the morning and find out from the news that as of 0800 I am a criminal because I think/believe/behave/dress
differently from what the bunch of self-appointed old guys thinks is appropriate. And my beloved 2nd Amendment.
The media and the Left will make you believe that America is not really great, that the mere foundations that our country was built on were flawed or became obsolete in today’s day and age, that the “evolved” world does not want our “cowboy” freedoms and that all that ails this world is the “imperialist” America’s fault. And the recent events might have some of us wondering if our country would continue to be the great place to live and pursue one’s happiness in. Hell, yes! Yes, it is still the best country on Earth despite everything and everyone hell-bent on destroying it, literally and figuratively. Yes, it is still worth fighting for, both overseas and here, through ringing our representatives’ phones off the hook. Yes, it is still worth to be proud of.
In the late 80s, one of the Russian stand-up comedians had a skit about his trip to the US. One of the stories was about a party with his American (not Russian-American) hosts. As the story went, in a middle of the party, the host sneaked him and other guys into the kitchen “while the wife was otherwise occupied” so they can have a drink “to our country” I remember the hilarity in the audience that ensued once he uttered those words “let’s drink to our country…” Hell, I laughed myself! Do not take me wrong, a concept of sneaking a drink while one’s wife is not looking was VERY familiar but sneaking a drink “to our country” was not just foreign, it was alien. (You see, despite an incredible Russian inventiveness when it comes to finding an excuse to have a drink, drinking “to our country” has never ever come up…) While I haven’t yet experienced the above-mentioned drinking habit among my American friends, I think it is time we start a new tradition. To our country!
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Also, we had a slight issue with the comment tool -- so apologies to anyone who ran into the same problem as I did yesterday, and received that annoying comment error message.
It was a very nice idea! Just wanna say thank you for the information you have shared. Just continue writing this kind of post. I will be your loyal reader. Thanks again.
It was a very nice idea! Just wanna say thank you for the information you have shared. Just continue writing this kind of post. I will be your loyal reader. Thanks again.
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Thanks for posting Olga. I think that Europeans/Russian immigrants who lived behind the Iron Curtain are the most loyal and patriotic citizens we've got.