Here we sit on the Fourth of July, halfway through this year. In my relatively short lifetime [not so short according to my younger daughter, LOL!] I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many of us complaining about our country! We are angry about the President. We are angry about the police. We are angry about legal immigration, illegal immigration- oops, I mean undocumented, about the people who are angry about immigration! We are offended about, well… about everything!
I’m starting to think we define ourselves primarily by what we are against! I sat at my desk early this morning, at work by choice and joining my coworkers scheduled to provide laboratory medicine support in our region on this holiday. I thought of how many of us express so much negativity about our country. I thought of how many of us choose to identify ourselves as hyphen-Americans, or maybe just the hyphen- and not -American. I thought of how many come to this country and then bad mouth it and work to tear it down. And then I thought, in spite of this, more people immigrate to America than any other country! What does that mean?
Sorry folks. What that means is that this country has more to offer, in so many ways, than any other country on this earth! If that sounds pro-America, well, no apology, it is! Are we perfect? No, no we’re not. Do we need work? Yes, yes we do!
I have a few challenges for you today. Hang on, I’ll get to all of you!
On this Fourth of July, if you are an immigrant, and you are spending too much of your time tied up in negativity about this country, please, for all our sakes, and your own, feel free to rejoin your country of origin. If you are an undocumented guest, and aren’t positive about being here, the road back home is wide open. If you like it here, respect us enough to buy in- documentation, language and all.
On this Fourth of July, if you were born here, you are more blessed than you know. I challenge you to look for the good in the people, government, and countryside around you. I challenge you, and those of you just joining us in your lifetime, celebrate the differences that make us strong. Find and revel in common ground that makes us all American. Keep the uniqueness that adds flavor to us all. Lose the differences that divide and separate.
On this Fourth of July, I challenge you to keep your words and actions only on the blessings, only on the positives that make this country great. If there is something about us that is not worthy, then not today, but tomorrow pledge to be the positive change that will make us worthy.
God bless you. And God bless America!!