Saturday, July 3, 2010

A Love Note to America...and Her People

©2010 Susan Noyes Anderson, all rights reserved

Americans are different

as Americans can be.

We hail from north, south, east and west...

from sea to shining sea.

We're red and yellow, black and white...

the spectrum is complete.

We're big and small; we're narrow, wide,

and tall. We're short and sweet.

We work in banks and fields and mines;

we paint and dig and teach.

Some operate, incorporate,

or nurse, while others preach.

A bunch of us like grown-up toys,

speed boats and water-skis;

while others love to stand in streams

with boots up to our knees.

We swing at golf balls, shoot at hoops,

or serve up a home run...

then watch the pros do all those things

on TV screens. What fun!

We may or may not go to church,

but lots of us still pray.

We love our families, help our friends,

and vote to have our say.

Some fly the flag; some flout the flag...

but most view it with pride.

We live in towns and cities,

all across the countryside.

Our motto is "In God We Trust,"

and many of us do.

We care about our country, and

we honor freedom, too.

We're grateful for the founding fathers,

patriots indeed.

We honor men and women

who have dared to fight and bleed...

to claim and keep our independence

in each hour of need.

Americans are different

as Americans can be.

But in one thing we are the same:

We must and will live free.

I am convinced that the essence of America's freedom is deeply engrained in the DNA of her citizens. May we never go quietly into any dark night of tyranny, and may we ever protect and defend the freedoms won by our fathers and our fathers' fathers. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

***And now for Saturday Centus, my favorite game...Wherein Jenny Matlock's husband gives us a prompt, we throw in 100 of our own words, and a story emerges. (The prompt is in red.)***

Here goes!

Meeting Expectations

A trickle of sweat slid down my forehead, stinging one sunburned eye. Hey, at least I was hydrated. This heat was a beast, but slow, thirsty death in the desert wasn't high on my list of worries. No doubt about it. My butt was on the line.

“Are you sure that's the one you want?"

I felt a little lump in my throat as I peered down at my choice, held tightly in my hand. I didn't think this would be so nerve-wracking. Was I making the wrong decision? I couldn't agonize over this any longer.

I took a deep breath before managing to say, "... Yes, it is."

Exhaling carefully, I clipped the wire.

“Boom! You’re dead, specialist. And so is everyone within 100 yards of you. Nice work, rookie.”

The squad’s laughter hit me like shrapnel. My instincts sucked, but my timing couldn’t be better. I was gonna wash out of training just in time for the 4th of July.

And I could see my old man’s star-spangled scowl already.

36 comments:

karen said...

Amen. Happy Fourth, Sue! Have a wonderful time with your family and friends.

Karen Mortensen said...

This was so wonderful. Thank you for doing this. We are indeed blessed to live in this country.

Snarky Belle said...

Oh Sue, once again you are a wonder with words! Thank you so much for such a beautiful tribute.
Have a wonderful Independence Day!
xoxo

CB said...

So true and Proud to be an American!
Have a wonderful 4th with your family!

Darlene said...

Dick, Blaine and I enjoyed this a lot. As usual, it made me tear up a bit. I get so emotional when I read things about our country and especially about the flag and the constitution. I really lose it when I hear the Tabernacle Choir sing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" Guess I am just patriotic through and through.

Darlene said...

As for the Centus, that was so clever Sue! I would never have thought about going this direction. It was absolutely perfect.

larainydays said...

Thanks Sue, it was perfect for the weekend. You do have a way with words.

CM said...

That was awesome! Good job, I really enjoyed this one!

Oh, and Happy 4th too, great tribute.

Tracy said...

That was a brilliant tribute to 4th July, I hope you don't mind but I am linking to you on my blog , as an English person with American family We always remember 4th July tomorrow we are having a Bar B Q to celebrate Happy 4th July

My Grama's Soul said...

Just found you thru All My Yesterdays. Thanks for the tribute to this wonder country of ours.

And, I so loved your centus story!!

JO

jeff campbell said...

Well done and so timely:-) Peace and blessings, Happy 4th!!

Nancy said...

DITTO to your beautiful words!! Great post and prose. Thinking of you and the rest of the family on this wonderful July 4th!

Viki said...

This was excellent. A totally different take on the prompt. I never in a million years would have thought of this. Great Centus.

Jess said...

I love your poem and pics, but I love your finish of the prompt more. Happy 4th of July!

Unknown said...

Loved your poem! It says it all...and you matched the pictures perfectly too.

I feel so sorry for the rookie bomb diffuser! He's got a lot to live up to!

Unknown said...

Oh Sue. I love everything about you.

Vicki/Jake said...

Hey, thanks for the visit on mine, for the great take on being American and for the cool Centus!
Have a great 4th

Joy For Your Journey said...

Happy Fourth!! I love this country. Thanks for your sweet post about so many of the things that make our country great!!

Grandma Yellow Hair said...

Sue thank you so very much for doing this beautiful tribute to America. It is honestly one of the best I have ever been blessed to see on here.
I hope that everyone that has a blog or doesn't gets to see this post.
Thank you for doing this
Love
Maggie

BECKY said...

Hi Sue! Your salute to the USA was great...and so was your prompt writing thingy!! Loved it! Very surprising ending!

Tgoette said...

Sue, your Centus was the bomb! LOL! Yeah, I couldn't help myself. Great job!

People Who Know Me Would Say: said...

Magnificent, Sue! And I've never said that to anyone about their centus before!

Unknown said...

This was beautiful. Great post, Sue. Hope you have a nice holiday.

jfb57 said...

Oooo! I was right! I thoiught that was the sort of ending it had! Excellent!

I really like you blog. Any chance of an email subscription box? I'm hopeless with feeds etc. Let me know!

K.C. said...

Beautiful! Thank you so much! Have a wonderful 4th. Hi, Aunt Darlene! It made me tear up too. Say hello to the rest of the family for me. Love, K.C.

Terra said...

Ok, first of all your 4th post was simply perfect - I loved the Map of the USA - what a lot of work went into a wonderful tribute! That said your Centus also perfect. I loved every word, I got it and felt as if I was there with him. Just loved it.

Braden Bell said...

Hear, hear! God bless America. He's certainly been good to us in the past.

Betty said...

Nice 4th of July tribute. I like the way your worked the holiday into your story.

Heather Anderson said...

Perfect! HAppy 4th!

NBlake said...

Nice. I really like this centus.

Cheryl said...

Loved the Centus all to pieces! Pun intended.

Kat said...

I love this post Sue, it's one of the best tributes to our country that I've seen. And your Centus piece was great, nice twist on the prompt! Kat

Amy said...

Always love your poems, and I especially love your stories! Thank you for helping the pride grow.

Malisa said...

Marvelous! "Star spangled scowl"...I love that! What a visual!

I was late with my submission this week, but I hope you will stop by and read it.

Malisa

Jenny said...

Sue. I am sitting here in tears. Your tribute was amazing. Absolutely amazing.

And to segue into your SC with that prelude was just perfect!

Thank you for being you.

And thank you for linking this week.

You have really touched my heart with this post.

Life@Cee said...

Such a nice tie in to 4th of July. The "star spangled scowl" was a verbal feast. Beautifully done.
Cee