Thanksgiving

Some time back I was looking at the photos and names of our Iraq and Afghanistan war casualties. As I looked at these young faces and read their names it became very clear to me that to be American is not a physical thing. It’s a spirit – a commitment – a way of being and believing. These young people gave their lives because they were Americans. They gave the most precious thing they had. And now their families mourn them, never to see them or hear them or touch them again. So why would other people hate us if we are a people who would send our most precious resource to die in a foreign land?

America is a concept. It is a concept that provides opportunity to everyone to be what they can be. It draws others from their homelands with its promise. And those others who come have the same dreams of a better life that our ancestors and founders had. But if we look deeper into the concept of America we find a promise of core freedoms. We are free to express ourselves. We are free to take advantage of the opportunities or not. We are free to travel and visit unencumbered. We can go to bed at night and not worry about being awakened by a knock on our door that signals our demise for political reasons. We are free to elect our government so that our interests are protected. We are a country where the governed give permission to be governed. And those who hate us want to stamp out these freedoms.

Theocracies and dictatorships are failed systems. Many of them live by seventh and eighth century beliefs – attempting to bend, shape or repress modern times to conform to their archaic laws. But America is the promise of newer and even better modern times. To be sure, America is just that – a promise. It is not perfect. It is not even honest at times. But it never ceases to strive to achieve its potential.

We have homeless people in the streets. We have special interest groups invading our governing process. We have terrorists of our own blowing up public buildings and killing hundreds of innocents. We have elderly people on tight budgets choosing to buy groceries or prescriptions. We have minority groups being marginalized, unequal distribution of the economic opportunities, failing schools, underfunded social programs, corrupt corporations. So what’s so great here?

What’s great is that we have the promise of correcting our problems. We have a commitment to high ideals, even though we haven’t achieved them all. We have the process to achieve our promise and those high ideals. We have the creativity, stamina, desire and capability to continue working on the promise that is America.

America is the greatest social experiment ever attempted in the history of mankind. It is not yet what it declares it will be. But most importantly it continues to work toward that declaration. And even though it may never fully achieve it, America will always be place that holds the promise only dreamed about in other lands.

There are those among us who cannot abide another’s opinion. There are those who consider conflicting views to be traitorous. There are those whose minds are closed to consideration of well-formed ideas. But in spite of these weaknesses on the part of the electorate, America is still the promise of a new and better day – each and every day that we have the blessing to enjoy.

It was Winston Churchill who said and I paraphrase here, “the best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter”. But he also said that, “democracy is not a perfect form of government but in spite of that, it’s still the best form on the planet”. Let us give thanks for the miracle that is America.