I’m Proud to be American
Posted: December 13th, 2009, 4:01 pm
In the year 2002 as a proud, everyday American, I left my career in sales and marketing to better reach my potential by staying home with my computer to act out the role of a wannabe writer/poet. Don’t ask me why, but after watching for the first time the movie: Paris When It Sizzles, starring William Holden and Audrey Hepburn, I was going to someday be a writer of some sort. During this period and at least every other Saturday morning at around 6 a.m., I’d meet up with my next door neighbor at the town diner where we lived in Massachusetts. These meet ups brought back to mind the tradition of my father who in rural Michigan would go to the local coffee shop to socialize with the town folk.
Back then the owner of this diner was in her golden years and yet energetically attempted to do most of the cooking. On Saturday her daughter would help out, while her son-in-law assisted with the preparation of the food in the backroom of the diner. Every so often the son-in-law would emerge from the back of the diner with a tray of freshly cleaned whole potatoes and then would place them in front of his mother-in-law to be cut into home fries. Not on like so many occasions in the past the son-in-law would start to engage the patrons in conversation. In his expected charismatic manner, he would ask them about their families and lives.
As patrons, we took this son-in-law’s charismatic manner of entertaining us for granted. We viewed him as just one of the everyday folk that made up the culture of our town. Even though I have not lived in this town all of my life, this uniquely vivacious person has been entertaining me even before I moved to Massachusetts. When I still lived in Michigan back in the seventies and if you were a baseball fan, especially an ardent Detroit Tiger fan like my grandfather, you would know this player. In 1976, he had a 2.34 ERA, a 19-9 record and was the American League Rookie of the Year as the pitcher, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych.
To me anyhow, Mark for who he is and all he was, along with his mother-in-law and the patrons of Chet’s Diner represent the potential breadth of our American culture. Within this small shell of a local landmark, Chet’s Diner, the spirit and breadth of our national culture thrives proudly with its great potential. Within this place of gathering dwells all the same hopes and dreams, the successes and letdowns, coupled with the strength and the endurance that’s characteristic of the everyday, American people. Yes that everyday person living out each day with and for family trying to productively contribute to the overall cultural well being of our nation. In America, our people, our historical figures and heroes are rooted in this everyday kind of folk proudly aspiring to reach their potential in a variety of ways similar or somewhat different than Mark Fidrych.
As I sit here today in 2009 to rewrite this piece of a few years back, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych tragically died in an accident in April of this year. Although the cutting short of Mark’s life is extremely sad, it is the “how” in the way Mark lived his life that will be remembered and embodies a lot of the reason why I’m proud to be American. I say this despite the dislike felt by others in the world toward us proud Americans because of the way they perceive the political actions brought forth by our nation’s government. They outspokenly have a dislike and cast criticism towards our fellow citizens, which includes the honorable service of our brothers and sisters that defend our country for being proud. This limited and bias view of why Americans are a proud people is unduly misplaced in my opinion and I think mainly due to a lack of understanding about the ideals of our people. For them to truly know and speak about and then judge proud Americans, they must separate us, the everyday folk or people from the veneer of government and politics. To do so they must openly walk and experience without the stain of bias the highways and byways that literally breathe the spirit representative of the heart and soul of our nation. They must have the want and sincerity to truly know the reasons behind we the people as everyday Americans, are so proud.
To my fellow everyday Americans, I can only say I’m still proud to be American. My saying this is not some emotional and unfounded reaction that’s in denial of past and recent events surrounding our country. I have freely and openly walked and experienced the highways and byways that literally breathe a spirit representative of the heart and soul of our nation. It is because I am free filled with liberty that I am able to be fully aware of and appreciate the type of people that make up the American cultural landscape. I know many of us are fully aware of the responsibility associated with the actions of our government and don’t shirk or take flippantly our responsibility as a citizen. We stay active as citizens, even if we don’t fully agree with our past and/or current governmental actions as a nation. I know despite our feelings or wants and opinions, we through republic representation do suffer limitations. Limitations as to our influence on those or our ability to control those that are elected into office, as well as the electoral process in selecting which administration should lead our government. I also know from personal observation and cooperative experience that we are a concerned, caring, loving and generous people. As humanitarians we take the lead not only amongst our own people, but throughout the world as well.
No matter our perceived shortcomings as a nation, it is our commonality as everyday folk or people that makes our nation something to be proud of and what it is today. As well as being the very backbone of what gives us the strength and the endurance to be what we can be proud of in the future. As long as we keep trying to proudly reach our full human potential, we can overcome any obstacle placed before us. Others as a part of human nature will continually try to make us feel guilty about our actions and the setbacks we may suffer. We are no doubt fully aware of the misery we the people inflicted on others during the founding of our nation to acquire such a hope as freedom and liberty for our family. We also know full well what we as a people have had to do to preserve and sustain our hopes and dreams since the beginning of our country. The humbling reality of it all, well as I was raised and so taught, is that Americans have had to be a proud people. This is due to our struggle to survive, to do whatever it takes to save our family in the past and over the years as a people predisposed with a disposition from once having to flee servitude and oppression. We the people once the commoners, the everyday folk have come to know all too well within the struggle to pursue our ideals, hopes, and dreams, the frailty and shortcomings of our humanity; thereafter being revealed on to us as a people as our lessons to be learned resultant from our actions. America tends to be looked upon as “the” sole superpower in the world, as the one to be blamed if lacking in example. We the everyday folk or people have somehow in the minds of others, appear to be technologically advanced, successful, materially prosperous and therefore deemed with the stature of omnipotent/omnipresent.
The reality of it all when we get right down to it is Americans as our history of acts reveal are not much different in many ways than any other human being or nation trying day in and day out to go on and survive. It is within the struggle for our humanity as a nation and the principles as a country for which we measure ourselves daily, is why I’m proud, as we say to be American. In the light of such expectations and in all humility, as a citizen of my country I’m fully aware that Americans as a collective nation fall short of the expectations we’ve set before ourselves. We the people, that everyday American have the same right to be proud of our cultural style and manner, as any other nation or people have a right to be proud or not of their own cultural style and manner. America, whether some superpower or not. No matter if made up of everyday humans, folk or people full of imperfections. Daily to me anyhow, the spirit and breadth of our national culture that thrives proudly with its great potential, is found to be encapsulated in the small shell of Chet’s Diner if one cares without bias to find it there. It is those like Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, who in life and death reminds me of why I’m proud to be American and why I’m so inspired to write about it and defend the merits of it.
http://www.keithalanhamilton.com/
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Back then the owner of this diner was in her golden years and yet energetically attempted to do most of the cooking. On Saturday her daughter would help out, while her son-in-law assisted with the preparation of the food in the backroom of the diner. Every so often the son-in-law would emerge from the back of the diner with a tray of freshly cleaned whole potatoes and then would place them in front of his mother-in-law to be cut into home fries. Not on like so many occasions in the past the son-in-law would start to engage the patrons in conversation. In his expected charismatic manner, he would ask them about their families and lives.
As patrons, we took this son-in-law’s charismatic manner of entertaining us for granted. We viewed him as just one of the everyday folk that made up the culture of our town. Even though I have not lived in this town all of my life, this uniquely vivacious person has been entertaining me even before I moved to Massachusetts. When I still lived in Michigan back in the seventies and if you were a baseball fan, especially an ardent Detroit Tiger fan like my grandfather, you would know this player. In 1976, he had a 2.34 ERA, a 19-9 record and was the American League Rookie of the Year as the pitcher, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych.
To me anyhow, Mark for who he is and all he was, along with his mother-in-law and the patrons of Chet’s Diner represent the potential breadth of our American culture. Within this small shell of a local landmark, Chet’s Diner, the spirit and breadth of our national culture thrives proudly with its great potential. Within this place of gathering dwells all the same hopes and dreams, the successes and letdowns, coupled with the strength and the endurance that’s characteristic of the everyday, American people. Yes that everyday person living out each day with and for family trying to productively contribute to the overall cultural well being of our nation. In America, our people, our historical figures and heroes are rooted in this everyday kind of folk proudly aspiring to reach their potential in a variety of ways similar or somewhat different than Mark Fidrych.
As I sit here today in 2009 to rewrite this piece of a few years back, Mark “The Bird” Fidrych tragically died in an accident in April of this year. Although the cutting short of Mark’s life is extremely sad, it is the “how” in the way Mark lived his life that will be remembered and embodies a lot of the reason why I’m proud to be American. I say this despite the dislike felt by others in the world toward us proud Americans because of the way they perceive the political actions brought forth by our nation’s government. They outspokenly have a dislike and cast criticism towards our fellow citizens, which includes the honorable service of our brothers and sisters that defend our country for being proud. This limited and bias view of why Americans are a proud people is unduly misplaced in my opinion and I think mainly due to a lack of understanding about the ideals of our people. For them to truly know and speak about and then judge proud Americans, they must separate us, the everyday folk or people from the veneer of government and politics. To do so they must openly walk and experience without the stain of bias the highways and byways that literally breathe the spirit representative of the heart and soul of our nation. They must have the want and sincerity to truly know the reasons behind we the people as everyday Americans, are so proud.
To my fellow everyday Americans, I can only say I’m still proud to be American. My saying this is not some emotional and unfounded reaction that’s in denial of past and recent events surrounding our country. I have freely and openly walked and experienced the highways and byways that literally breathe a spirit representative of the heart and soul of our nation. It is because I am free filled with liberty that I am able to be fully aware of and appreciate the type of people that make up the American cultural landscape. I know many of us are fully aware of the responsibility associated with the actions of our government and don’t shirk or take flippantly our responsibility as a citizen. We stay active as citizens, even if we don’t fully agree with our past and/or current governmental actions as a nation. I know despite our feelings or wants and opinions, we through republic representation do suffer limitations. Limitations as to our influence on those or our ability to control those that are elected into office, as well as the electoral process in selecting which administration should lead our government. I also know from personal observation and cooperative experience that we are a concerned, caring, loving and generous people. As humanitarians we take the lead not only amongst our own people, but throughout the world as well.
No matter our perceived shortcomings as a nation, it is our commonality as everyday folk or people that makes our nation something to be proud of and what it is today. As well as being the very backbone of what gives us the strength and the endurance to be what we can be proud of in the future. As long as we keep trying to proudly reach our full human potential, we can overcome any obstacle placed before us. Others as a part of human nature will continually try to make us feel guilty about our actions and the setbacks we may suffer. We are no doubt fully aware of the misery we the people inflicted on others during the founding of our nation to acquire such a hope as freedom and liberty for our family. We also know full well what we as a people have had to do to preserve and sustain our hopes and dreams since the beginning of our country. The humbling reality of it all, well as I was raised and so taught, is that Americans have had to be a proud people. This is due to our struggle to survive, to do whatever it takes to save our family in the past and over the years as a people predisposed with a disposition from once having to flee servitude and oppression. We the people once the commoners, the everyday folk have come to know all too well within the struggle to pursue our ideals, hopes, and dreams, the frailty and shortcomings of our humanity; thereafter being revealed on to us as a people as our lessons to be learned resultant from our actions. America tends to be looked upon as “the” sole superpower in the world, as the one to be blamed if lacking in example. We the everyday folk or people have somehow in the minds of others, appear to be technologically advanced, successful, materially prosperous and therefore deemed with the stature of omnipotent/omnipresent.
The reality of it all when we get right down to it is Americans as our history of acts reveal are not much different in many ways than any other human being or nation trying day in and day out to go on and survive. It is within the struggle for our humanity as a nation and the principles as a country for which we measure ourselves daily, is why I’m proud, as we say to be American. In the light of such expectations and in all humility, as a citizen of my country I’m fully aware that Americans as a collective nation fall short of the expectations we’ve set before ourselves. We the people, that everyday American have the same right to be proud of our cultural style and manner, as any other nation or people have a right to be proud or not of their own cultural style and manner. America, whether some superpower or not. No matter if made up of everyday humans, folk or people full of imperfections. Daily to me anyhow, the spirit and breadth of our national culture that thrives proudly with its great potential, is found to be encapsulated in the small shell of Chet’s Diner if one cares without bias to find it there. It is those like Mark “The Bird” Fidrych, who in life and death reminds me of why I’m proud to be American and why I’m so inspired to write about it and defend the merits of it.
~Keith Alan Hamilton~"I'm proud to be American because I have walked and experienced the highways and byways that literally breathe the spirit representative of the heart and soul of my nation; for all those who dislike me for being a proud American, you'll have to learn to live with it or try to truly know the reasons behind we the people as everyday Americans, are so proud."
http://www.keithalanhamilton.com/
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yeah, América is a beautiful continente!!!