A BELATED THANK YOU

-

The Fourth of July has come and gone. I thought about writing and wishing this wonderful country a happy birthday. Then I thought... that wasn't enough.

So there was some thinking to be done, and some soul-searching along with the thinking.

History. Love. Hope. Treason. Loyalty. Anger. Too many wars, I think. Dissension and agreement. Doubts and certainties. Laughter and tears. Helping hands and welcoming hearts.

Even taken together, those words do not begin to explain this country, its people, its greatness, or its enduring value. Two hundred and fifty years. About 245 years longer than many expected it to survive.

After all, it was little more than a bold experiment in a world that was deeply suspicious of experiments like this one. Yet somehow, despite every prediction and every detractor, it endured. And it continued. And will continue.

I became part of this ongoing experiment some sixty-four years ago. More by circumstance than by choice. My family sent a frightened pair of siblings to this country, a decision I was hardly capable of making for myself at the age of fifteen.

What I found here changed my life.

I found kindness, generosity, and strangers willing to help. I found a land so vast that, to my wonder-filled eyes, the word "infinite" seemed more appropriate than merely "immense".

But beyond its size, I found something infinitely more valuable.

I found the opportunity to have a future.

I found the freedom to learn, to grow, and to think with my own mind instead of repeating thoughts imposed by a ruling government.

I found the freedom to say, "No, I don't agree with this law, this idea, or this policy," without living in fear of having said it.

Freedom to think. Freedom to express myself. Freedom simply to be.

What extraordinary gifts those are.

Many who were born with those freedoms have never known life without them. That is understandable. It is difficult to appreciate the value of something that has always been yours. Those of us who came from places where those freedoms did not exist understand their worth in a different way. We know what they cost. We know what their absence feels like. We know the difference they make in a person’s life.

So yes, happy belated birthday to this remarkable nation.

To everything it has represented. To the opportunities it has offered. To the generations who have built it, defended it, improved it, and passed it on. To those it has welcomed in the past, and to those it will welcome in the future, within the framework of its laws and principles.

But more than that...

Thank you.

Thank you for what you have given me, and millions of others like me.

Hope. Opportunity. Growth. The freedom to think. The freedom to choose.

The freedom simply to become who we were meant to be.

God bless this wonderful country.

R.J. Alcazar
English Now Group LLC | ThinkSpeak™

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Summer Camp; Pedro Pan Style

-
MEMORIES OF SUMMER CAMP T he summer of 1962 was a time that brought total change to my life, as well as to the lives of all who were at the camp, when we were forced to grow from being teenagers to being a semi-adult in his (her) teens. Gone were family and lifelong friends, as well as any kind of familiar surroundings. I could no longer go find my Saturday and Sunday gang to enjoy the park or the movies. I have to quickly add that those who were in charge of this growing monster called Camp Matecumbe, went well beyond any reasonable expectations in the care and nurture of us. They really did the impossible and, with a somewhat limited budget, they made us feel welcome and at home. We were given clothes in which to hang around the camp, teachers so that our schooling would not fall too far behind, natural classroom settings under the trees and weekly trips to downtown Miami and to Crandon Park and the beach. I remember Richard’s Basement, a store where with the few ...
Read more

IS “HATRED” VALID?

-
According to the Oxford Dictionary, hate (verb) / hatred (noun) mean: 1.       To feel ( to hate ) intense or passionate dislike ( hatred ) for something or someone.   - “I HATE … ( PUT YOUR FAVORITE HATE SUBJECT HERE ) !!!” How often do we hear someone who, at the peak of frustration, utters that famed and abused expression? The direct object of their feelings could be a pet that just did the unthinkable on their living room floor, a phone that fails to communicate immediately, or another person who wronged them beyond expectation or reason. And, of course, for no reason.   What does the feeling of hate do to a person? Let’s be honest. 60-70% of the time we hear that expression ( and if truth be told, most of us let it escape sometimes ), is the result of a momentary frustration and it rarely goes beyond that moment. Yet, I have met people who physically and emotionally change at the mention of someone or something they profess to hate, and ac...
Read more

Mafalda and her gang.

-
Sometimes cartoon characters take on an  existence  of their own and become bigger than life itself. This was the case with Mafalda, an Argentinean born character which has influenced at least two generations in many countries down south. The US has “Peanuts” with Chuck, Linus and the gang. In Latin America it has been Mafalda and her group of friends; these include a social butterfly, an avowed capitalist, a dreamer and the main title character, who practices a fairly straightforward life philosophy; sometimes caustic, sometimes very direct, but always on the  money. Born from the pen and drawing board of Quino, an Argentinean writer creator, this small group of indeterminate age children were (and still are in many areas) the stuff which parents used to teach their own children, since it was a world seen from the eyes of the children themselves; a world where adults were present and dealt with, but on the quasi-outside of the children’s own reality. Why put Mafalda ...
Read more