I am a citizen of the United States of America and very proud of it! My love affair with the U.S.A. started some time ago when I was only four years old and had lost my mother to TB. Back in the thirties there were no antibiotics available to treat tuberculosis and consequently my mother died in a sanatorium in West Virginia.
For a year or so I lived with my mother's parents in Huntington, West Virginia and then after my father remarried a wonderful lady from Hamilton, Ontario I went to live with her parents and attended a strict private English school called Hillfield. It was while I was there that I developed a longing not only to be with my parents but to eventually live with them in Buffalo, N.Y. I was the only American in my school and from time to time I was, shall we say, tested by my schoolmates who made snide comments about the U.S.A. I remember one time going to a concert with the whole student body and when the concert orchestra played The Stars and Stripes Forever I was the only one in the concert hall who stood up. Even then at the age of 8 I was proud to be an American. As I have grown older my love affair with the U.S.A. has gotten even stronger and when people tell me that this country is fouled up or going off in the wrong direction I am saddened by their negative attitudes but understand at the same time that they have every right as citizens of this country to express their displeasure with their government or its policies. After all, that's what a Democracy is all about: the freedom and right to be able to speak your mind about your government and its officials and not be thrown into jail!
But for all the elitists and cynics who will point out the injustices and inequities that are part of our society, there are others who take a much more balanced approach about this nation and one of those happened to be a Canadian by the name of Gordon Sinclair who passed away a few years ago. One of my old friends in Toronto, Ontario told me that Sinclair was always very outspoken when he saw injustice or corruption and as a consequence he was a popular character on Canadian TV! An old hockey buddy of mine recently reminded me about an old newspaper column he sent me about Gordon Sinclair and some remarks Sinclair made on his TV show one day. I thought you might be interested in what he had to say: “This Canadian thinks it’s time to speak up for Americans as the most generous and least appreciated people on earth. Germany and Japan, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave others’ billions in debts. When France was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up, and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. I was there. I saw it.
"When earthquakes hit distant cities, it is the United State that hurries into help, The Marshall Plan and the Truman Policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries. Now newspapers in those countries write about decadent, war-mongering Americans. When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down because of age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store front for everybody to look at. I can name 5,000 times when Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? Our neighbors have faced it alone, and I'm one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them get kicked around. Stand proud America!"
So at this time of year when we have so much to be thankful for, I think it behooves all of us to remember what we have accomplished over the past few decades. Of course we have made mistakes but on scale of 1 to 10 we also stand as a beacon of hope for millions around the world! All of us are free to be what we want to become, free to practice whatever religion we believe in and free to even make fun of ourselves as a nation. It's that way because all of us as citizens of this great nation still believe that America stands for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness!
Please enjoy your holidays and God Bless America.