I've roamed and rambled and followed my footsteps
through the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
and all around me a voice was calling
this land was made for you and me...
through the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts
and all around me a voice was calling
this land was made for you and me...
On its birthday, we consider then America. America the beautiful. America the bold and the brave. America the brash, the ugly, the glorious, the foolish. America. Your America (for in a pervasive...some might say perverse...way, there is a measure, however small, of America in each of us regardless of nation of origin or allegiance.)
My America.
Forged in a crucible of blood and sweat and tears. Blood and sweat and tears spilled in the name of peace and freedom and justice...in the name of love and hate and progress...in the name of glory...in the name of faith and adventure and Manifest Destiny.
Blood and sweat and tears spilled in the name of divine right and divine retribution...in the name of the almighty dollar...in the name of an almighty God.
Blood and sweat and tears spilled from sea to shining sea and many, many points beyond...from the hallowed shadow of Plymouth Rock to the venerated depths of Pearl Harbor...from the desperate chill of Valley Forge to the unspeakable fire of Ground Zero...from the bloody fields of Gettysburg to the battered streets of Baghdad...
My America.
Forged in a crucible of blood and sweat and tears. Blood and sweat and tears spilled in the name of peace and freedom and justice...in the name of love and hate and progress...in the name of glory...in the name of faith and adventure and Manifest Destiny.
Blood and sweat and tears spilled in the name of divine right and divine retribution...in the name of the almighty dollar...in the name of an almighty God.
Blood and sweat and tears spilled from sea to shining sea and many, many points beyond...from the hallowed shadow of Plymouth Rock to the venerated depths of Pearl Harbor...from the desperate chill of Valley Forge to the unspeakable fire of Ground Zero...from the bloody fields of Gettysburg to the battered streets of Baghdad...
...from California to the New York Island
from the Redwood forest to the Gulf stream waters
this land was made for you and me...
from the Redwood forest to the Gulf stream waters
this land was made for you and me...
We consider then America. A boisterous, preposterous, amazing, tumultuous, undeniable child-state (229 years being a brief season on the sprawling timeline of great nations) loudly playing out its bright hour upon the stage.
I embrace and treasure America...unabashedly but not blind to its shortcomings...for all that it is and all that I hope and pray it can and will be. For it is...in all of its glories as well as all of its foibles...it is mine. And yours. And ours.
And for my part, all that it is in deed and in spirit...all that it has been (in moments both glorious and infamous)...all that it can and should be in the unknowable future...is as much a part of me as I am a part of it.
I embrace and treasure America...unabashedly but not blind to its shortcomings...for all that it is and all that I hope and pray it can and will be. For it is...in all of its glories as well as all of its foibles...it is mine. And yours. And ours.
And for my part, all that it is in deed and in spirit...all that it has been (in moments both glorious and infamous)...all that it can and should be in the unknowable future...is as much a part of me as I am a part of it.
...well the sun came shining and I was strolling
through wheat fields and dust clouds rolling
and voice was sounding as the fog was lifting
saying this land was made for you and me...
through wheat fields and dust clouds rolling
and voice was sounding as the fog was lifting
saying this land was made for you and me...
From a cynical optimist (and a patriotic cynic) to all of my fellow Americans: Happy Birthday, y'all :-)
"This Land is Your Land"
words and music by Woody Guthrie
(c)1956 Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)
words and music by Woody Guthrie
(c)1956 Ludlow Music, Inc. (BMI)
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