Here's a comment from one of my Facebook posts; it's my own:
Patrick Henry issued a Call to Arms. We could sure use somebody ready, willing, and able to issue not a literal Call to Arms but a Call to Unite, to set aside personal issues for once and prove to ourselves and the rest of the world that we know what the words UNITED States of America are supposed to mean.
And yeah I realize the photo shows the North American Continent. That's because the United States of America is not alone in this world and the UNITY is aimed not just at us but expands to include all. It only seems impossible.
Because you know what?
The United States of America seemed impossible to many at one time too.
I'm not advocating a world-wide universal culture, mind you, nor even a nation-wide United States culture - our diversity is one of our greatest strengths if we could only bring ourselves to 'get' that concept.
But a unity of purpose, a united effort to make our nation and our world the best it can be, without constantly bickering and fighting all over the place - THAT'S a worthwhile goal, isn't it? Something to work toward?
You think our 'Founding Fathers (and Mothers)' didn't have differences of opinion?
They did.
Serious ones.
Somehow they managed to work those differences out - not without a struggle, and not without hot words going back and forth - and those Colonies became the States of a new Nation, one whose bottom line strength rests in her people ... that would be us.
Each and all of us, equally.
Just sayin' ...
If they could do it, so can we. We don't even have to start from scratch the way they did. Those guys gave us some damned powerful tools, if we could only bring ourselves to use them the way they were designed to be used.
What if we just started small?
What if even just one person from each State was ready, willing, and able to say flat out, and mean it, 'I am an American.'
What if even just one Voice from each State left out the rest of it, the politics, the religions, the age, the color, the gender, the divisive adjectives of all kinds, and simply focused on what it means, bottom line, to be an American?
Can we find even ONE VOICE from each of the fifty States willing to set it all aside enough to Speak in Unity with 49 other Voices and say, 'I am an American.'?
And leave it at that.
No adding 'I'm a woman. I'm a Democrat. I'm rich. I'm a businessman. I'm a stay at home mom. I'm gay. I'm Lutheran. I'm from Texas. I'm eighty years old. I'm this or that or the other thing yada yada yada.'
Just for once to take hold of the concept of what it means to be an American ... and to be ready, willing, and able to accept 49 others, no matter who they are, absolutely and without reservations, just because they too are ready, willing, and able to say right alongside of you, 'I am an American.'
Not in an attempt to negate our individuality and differences but to celebrate our diversity within the framework of our Nation.
Can we do this?
I am from North Dakota.
I will accept my own challenge and Speak, alone if no other Voices can be found from any of the other States.
And so North Dakota Speaks:
'I am an American.'
Who will add their Voice?
Think carefully what it means to add your Voice to this list. It means you are ready, willing, and able to stand shoulder to shoulder with 49 total strangers whose individual choices and affiliations may be radically different from your own.
For our purposes, the ONLY thing that matters is that they too are ready, willing, and able to stand shoulder to shoulder with 49 total strangers whose individual choices and affiliations may be radically different from theirs.
Because, my friend, that is what we are supposed to be all about here in the USA, isn't it?
Can we do it?
Can even ONE from each State, just fifty of us, accept 49 others as Americans no matter what our individual choices and affiliations are? With none of us trying to change one another's minds, with none of us turning aside from what we have agreed to do, with none of us saying to another you don't belong here among us?
Can we do it?
Frankly, I have my doubts.
Please prove me wrong.
After all, the only thing we have to agree on is four little words:
'I am an American.'
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