Happy Birthday, America!

America’s Birthday

“There is nothing wrong with America that the faith, love of freedom, intelligence and energy of her citizens cannot cure.”   Dwight D. Eisenhower

“The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.”

                                  Frank Zappa

“My country, ‘tis of thee, Land of the noble free, Thy name I love; I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills; My heart with rapture thrills, Like that above.”

                                  Samuel F. Smith (My Country, ‘Tis of Thee)

         Today is America’s two hundred and thirty-fifth Birthday.  It is a different nation from the one established by our founding fathers, but it is no less America.  I happened to have been living in New York City during the Bicentennial Celebration—hiked on a stormy afternoon to the far west side to watch tall ships sail up the Hudson River.  I remember being moved to tears at the sight, though I couldn’t say why.  The image of those dark ships, all sails flying, moving slowly in the pouring rain, is indelibly imprinted in my memory.  I felt cast back in time, to an earlier, prouder America.

         All the quotes above are true, I believe.  We are a country of citizens who believe fiercely in freedom, both collective and individual.  We all know that America is not at her zenith right now, and we wonder whether that point has passed.  She is an imperfect nation composed of less than perfect people.  But, that doesn’t keep us from loving every square inch of her--her ‘rock and rills,’ her beautiful deserts and mountains and long swaths of prairie.  One of my favorite sacred sites in America is the Nantahala canyon.  Standing beside the river, watching that icy water rush by, blotting out all sound save its own, is as holy as any cathedral can offer. 

A similar place for me in Alabama is the Dismals Canyon—don’t be fooled by the name. It isn’t dismal at all.  But it does have ancient rocks and Paleolithic formations in which tiny worms are imbedded.  They glow at night with the same green light as fireflies.  It is magical to see.  Once the land of the Chickasaw nation, it was considered sacred and ceremonial.  You feel that sacredness when you enter the canyon and as you walk through, seeing the roots of trees dangling down from a hundred feet above your head.  It puts things in perspective, somehow.  

I hope your Independence Day is cause for celebration.  We should not give up on America.  In fact, we should redouble our efforts; put our strong backs and legs and heads into the task of helping her to become what ‘our father’s God’ intends her to be.

                          Shalom,

                          Jane