Nobody Asked Me What It Means To Be An American - but...
I can't remember the last time I posted anything here. It's something I want to do on a regular basis but just don't seem to find the time. It's not that I necessarily have anything profound to say, but rather sometime you just have to let it out. Like many, I've turned to Twitter and Facebook to let my thoughts dribble out a little at a time.
This evening, while searching my archieves for something else I ran across my outline for my 1999 public speaking final - a five minutes speech. Some might suggest I was a litttle harsh on academia. Dr. Gates, our professor, asked me stay back so she could let me know she wasn't tenured. I did get the "A" I was looking for. ;)
What It Means To Be An American
Introduction
a.
Attention Getter: "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust, and sweat, and blood; who strives valiantly, who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best knows achievement and who at the worst if he fails, at least fails while doing greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
-- Theodore Roosevelt 1910
b.
Reason to listen: I recently saw a bumper sticker that read something like this: Freedom has a different flavor for those who have served to protect than for the protected. But, James Madison, one of the framers of the Constitution of the United States who said, "I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." For this reason I hope, especially those of you who have not had the opportunity to serve in the armed forces, will follow along with me for the next few minutes.
c.
Credibility: On March 5, 1976 I took the Oath of Enlistment which I repeated on five subsequent occasions during my navy career. The oath goes like this: I Todd Jonathan Tolson do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me according to regulations, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
During the course of the nearly 23 years that followed I’ve had the opportunity to visit many modern as well as third world nations. I've seen first hand how others live who do not share the ideological values that have transformed this great nation from a group of pilgrims in search or religious freedom; who struggled just to stay alive in a new country to what is today the world's only super power.
d.
Preview of Main Points: It seems you can't have a discussion on what it means to be an American without the word freedom coming up. I intend to address specifically that freedom comes with a price and that freedom comes with responsibility.
Body
a. Our Founding Fathers recognized that Freedom comes with a price.
1. Thomas Paine said in 1776, "These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated." http://www.constitutional.net/qff.html
2. The greatest price is that of lives lost in the pursuit of the idea that freedom is worth any price.
3. According to the Statistical Summary of America's Major Wars, nearly 805,000 American lives have been lost in combat from the Revolutionary War to the Gulf War at a cost of over 2.7 trillion dollars.
b. Along with Freedom comes responsibility.
1. A responsible education system should teach on the basis of values and principles and in the context of the framers of the constitution.
a. Sadly, many of our institutions of higher learning don’t even teach much less support the ideals and values that are the basis of the freedoms we have and are slowly losing today.
b. As a student here at the Socialist Republic of Grossmont I have learned in Humanities from Mr. Wood that there is no God and that everything that parents teach is wrong.
c. In Sociology I learned from Mr. Cardona that equal opportunity is not as important as equal outcome (although our grades were not distributed equally).
2. Only through responsible educational practices that are value based how to think rather than merely reflecting their teacher’s minds.
a. According to the American Heritage Library, Elias Boudinot, president of the Continental Congress, later a congressman from NJ stated "Good government generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow." http://www.constitutional.net/qff.html
b. John Jay, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, one of three men most responsible for our Constitution said, "Providence has given our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty, as well as privilege and interest, of a Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers." http://www.constitutional.net/qff.html
c. And, it was John Adams who stated, "Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have...a right, an indisputable, unalienable, indefeasible, divine right to that most dreaded and envied kind of knowledge, I mean the characters and conduct of their rulers."
Conclusion
a.
Review of Main Points: It’s unfortunate that time is so limited to only scratch the surface on what being an American means to me. While many Americans paid the ultimate price for the freedoms we claim today there is still a price to be paid daily in the exercise of those freedoms and the responsibilities that come with them.
b.
Tie back to the Attention Getter: Theodore Roosevelt rightly discounted the role of the critic when compared to the person, man or woman who is in pursuit of a dream. I’m aghast at the bunk taught by those in academia who have never had the intestinal fortitude to step outside the safety chains and do something productive. Our education system and students would be much better off learning from the experiences of those in the arena then the theories espoused from the safety of tenure. I would encourage you to study the personal prices paid by the men who framed our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
c.
Conclude with a powerful “lessons learned” story??: Much has been said on the subject of the American flag as the symbol of this great nation vs. freedom of speech. I will conclude with with a view from the flags perspective:
"OLDE GLORY"
I am the Flag of the United States of America. My name is OLDE GLORY.
I fly atop the world's tallest buildings I stand watch in America's Halls of Justice.
I fly majestically over Great Institutions of Learning.
I stand guard with the Greatest Military power in the World.
LOOK UP! See ME!!!
I stand for Peace, Honor, Truth and Justice. I stand for Freedom!!
I am confident, I am arrogant, I am proud. When I am flown with my fellow banners, my head is held a little higher - my colors are a little truer.
I BOW TO NO ONE!
I am recognized all over the world.
I am saluted - I am respected - I am revered - I am loved - I am feared!!
For more than 200 years, I have fought in every battle of every war;
Gettysburg, Shiloh, Appomattox, San Juan Hill, The Trenches of France, the Argenne Forest, Anzio, Rome, the beaches of Normandy the jungles of Guam, Okinawa, Tarawa, Korea, Vietnam and in the heat of the Persian Gulf and a score of other places long forgotten by all, but those who were there with me.
I was there.
I led my Sailors, Soldiers, Arimen and Marines into battle.
I followed them, I watch over them, they Love Me.
I was on a small hill on Iwo Jima.
I was dirty, battle torn and tired but my Sailors and Marines Cheered Me!!!!
I WAS PROUD!
I have been soiled, burned, torn and trampled on the streets of countries that I have helped to set Free.
It does not Hurt for I am invincibile.
I have been soiled, burned, torn and trampled on the streets of my own country and when it is done by those whom with I have served in battle. It HURTS!!!
But I shall Overcome for I am strong!!
I have slipped the surely bounds of earth and, from my vantage point on the moon, I stand watch over the New Frontiers of Space.
I have been the silent witness to all of America's finest hours.
But my finest hour comes when I am torn into strips, to be used as bandages for my wounded comrades on the field of battle.
Or, when I fly half mast to Honor my Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen and Marines and when I lie in the trembling arms of a grieving mother - at the graveside of her fallen son or daughter.
I am proud! My Name is "Olde Glory." Long may I wave.
Dear God, long may I wave.
AUTHOR UNKNOWN
