Celebrate the Red, White, and Blue

No matter how much we grump, growl, and moan about the state of affairs in the good old US of A, we remain the benchmark of the world. People from all over the world still want to emigrate to—well here! Those who would do us harm would rather live here than in their own cultures and home countries.

You may well be suffering economically, perhaps even without a job, but the signs of a modest recovery are beginning. Opportunity is slowly beginning to rouse itself. The United States remains the marvel of the world, and the storehouse of knowledge and intellectual property. If I heard the report right, the U. S. has more intellectual property patents than all other countries combined. This bodes well for the coming economic recovery. It points us to the fact that we must continue to support education at all levels to help maintain this overwhelming advantage of intellectual property. Let me digress just a moment from the thrust of this article to put in a plug for pre-school education. It’s probably the most important money we can spend as a nation. “Train up a child…and he will not depart” or teach a child to read (and enjoy reading) and everything else is possible.

July is a month for celebration, the birthday our country, voting, summertime, and just having a great time. Not to put a damper on our birthday enthusiasm, but it’s also the beginning of the hottest and most humid part of our year. So celebrate sweat too and air-conditioning.

Back to July 4, 2013—the red, white, and blue. 

The color RED in our flag represents hardiness and valor. Those patriot Americans represented valor in the shedding of blood for you and me. They represented hardiness, just as present day Americans do. Let’s celebrate the red in our flag.

The color WHITE represents purity of intent and innocence. Patriot Americans approached nationhood with the intent of securing freedoms and representations for all Americans. While that has been a slow process, the current freedoms are exemplars of these patriots intent. Perhaps Americans exhibit naivety about world politics, but maybe that is good.

The color BLUE in our flag represents perseverance, vigilance, and the pursuit of justice. Blue in the flag speaks to us as present-day citizens. We are a land of law not of exception. Let’s be vigilant in our approach to how we live. 

The RED, WHITE, and BLUE celebrated by Jimmy Cagney in “Yankee Doodle Dandy”, by Francis Key in the “Star Spangled Banner”,  by President Lincoln at the “Gettysburg Address”, and by countless others, ordinary citizens who every day carry on the idea—the embodiment of the United States of America.

Let’s get out there and celebrate the RED, WHITE, and BLUE and all that the flag represents to the world’s peoples—the sacrifice, good that the United States of America has made.

Celebrate the RED, WHITE, and BLUE—hey, it’s us.