Pride of Country

 

America

“Far,

We’ve been traveling far,

Without a home

But not without a star… 

On the boats and on the planes,

They’re coming to America

Never looking back again,

They’re coming to America”

Neil Diamond (from The Jazz Singer, 1980) 

I sat at Railroad Park in downtown Birmingham last night and listened to the Alabama Symphony play a free concert to mark their 100^th anniversary.  Surrounded by hundreds of people—adults, children, babies in carriages, dogs—people from all walks of life, all skin colors, all configurations of families—I realized that even after two horrible weeks of murder and mayhem, there is still reason for pride in America. On these very streets, a symphony concert has replaced fire hoses and police dogs. Progress has been made.

Sitting there, I flipped back in time to Central Park, 1976, when there were free concerts by rock stars like Jefferson Airplane, Kiss, and Simon and Garfunkel. Almost 50,000 people packed into the field on blankets and lawn chairs. It was America’s bicentennial. My friend, Maria and I walked across Central Park to watch the tall ships sail up the Hudson River. Those, too, were difficult years. There were multiple strikes in the city including sanitation workers, that shut down streets. It snowed 81 inches over the winter, and the garbage that piled up turned to 12-ft high walls of black snow and dog poop.

“Everywhere around the world,

They’re coming to America

Every time that flag’s unfurled,

They’re coming to America…” 

I remember the “boat people” from Haiti and Cuba, risking their lives because if they got to dry land, they got to stay in America. Last night, as I sat in that multi-cultural crowd of folks, I was happy that some of them made it. To me, this is America and instead of fearing the immigrant, we should welcome them as we always have.

I googled Neil Diamond’s song “America” from his movie, The Jazz Singer, and cried as I listened to it. I know there are good people in this country. I don’t know when we went askew, but I hope we figure it out. Hatred is not an American value, and fear is not what we’re known for.

I remember my Irish-American father, as he drove me to college the first time, telling me, “Remember who you are. You’re just as good as anybody there.” And that is my message to America this morning: Let’s remember who we are. America is a place the whole world sees as “free.” The place where you can breathe freely, worship freely, and love freely.

“Got a dream to take them there,

They’re coming to America.

Got a dream they’ve come to share.

They’re coming to America…” 

If we remember who we are, we will put away our weapons and come together to serve this beautiful country with pride. At least, these are my thoughts and prayers today.

                                        In the Spirit,

                                        Jane