Proud to be an American

http://thinkingamerican.blogtownhall.com/

A long time ago, before cell phones, DVDs, CDs, and even before Beta video recorders, a man challenged the imagination of the United States to achieve what could be considered “an impossible dream”. His name was Martin Luther King, and his challenge was in the form of a speech in which he described his dream that we all live together in harmony. Today, even though we are not perfect, schools are integrated, black and whites work together for the common good of our Nation, and the first viable African-American candidate for President is winning the primaries with a majority of votes from whites.

A few years later, another great man, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, challenged our Nation to another “impossible dream”, He challenged the United States to put the first man on the moon. I remember, while still living in the mountains of Puerto Rico, watching an old black and white TV with rabbit ears. I was ten at the time, that night, a lunar module from an Apollo mission, landed on the moon, and a very proud man pronounced the immortal words: “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” (Neil Armstrong). I remember thinking to myself, how is he going to get back to Earth?

Fast forward in time and an actor turned politician raised the hopes of our Nation with his “shinning city on top of the hill” analogy.. Later on, he challenged the Soviet Union with these words “General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” (http://www.reaganfoundation.org/reagan/speeches/wall.asp%2020%20February%202008)
On the 9th of November 1989 I was in Hoenfehls, Germany participating in a military exercise when the Berlin Wall came down. The Cold War was soon declared over.

On December 1989 I boarded a military transport that landed in the city of Daman, Saudi Arabia. Images of the back of the plane filling with smoke come to mind, we all rushed out of the plane fearing that burning inside the plane, while at the same time, slowly realizing that we had just landed in the Middle East. While the world was celebrating the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Middle East was trying to figure out a character that seemed to come out of a comic book. He thought that he could travel down from his country and take over Kuwait. My friend Tarek told me that he was ten at the time, and he was happy because the schools were closed. But when he made it home, he found his father gone. For almost a year he thought his father had being killed by the Iraqi troops. They ransacked the riches of the country, tried to destroy local monuments, even today if you go to the Kuwaiti Towers, you can see pictures on the wall of the damage inflicted and the hard work to reconstruct them. Today, they stand proud and tall. Along with my brothers and sisters of the United States Army, the French Army, the Egyptian Army, and many others, our coalition took on Saddam Hussein’s Army, and forced him back to his own country, effectively liberating the country of Kuwait, and preventing him from invading Saudi Arabia next.

On September 11, 2001, like many other Americans, and citizens of the world, I cried when terrorist infiltrated our land and brilliantly but cowardly executed the plan that destroyed the World Trade Center. And I was one of millions that wanted to show that our Nation would not capitulate because of some people that were stock in the 17th century and refused to join the modern world. I was proud of our Nation’s response. We were brothers and sisters united.

A few months later, and even though many think that the only reason we (the U.S. Army) went to Iraq was to try to find weapons of mass destruction, that was only one of the few reasons we went (H. J. Res 114: Armed Forces Against Iraq) we flew over to the Middle East and deposed another dictator.

In 2005, I was in the city of Tal’Afar when Iraq had the opportunity, for the first time in decades, to freely elect their officials. At 6:00 a.m. over 900 Iraqis were lined up in one of the polling stations even though Al-Qaida had threatened violence on those who dared vote. That alone let me know that our cause was just.

What does all of this ranting proof? That I’m old? Maybe. But in 48 years on this Earth, and being an American, I have seen history happen; I have been a part of history while it was happening, and I can say that I have been proud of our Nation, of our people, of our courage. I might not be proud of some of our politicians, but I am proud of our Democracy. It is ok to be proud of our Nation.


We are not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. We still have a long way to go. But Rome was not built in one day. Our Nation is in its infancy. We continue to go forward. If we continue following our heart, guided by our principles, and governed by our Constitution, we will be ok.