Thursday, June 28, 2012

Eagle

© 1994 Linda S. McKinney

If the last American Eagle
circled slowly in the sky
and no human eye saw,
nor ear heard Eagle's cry.....

If in his talons —
in air still pure and blue —
the last vestiges of Freedom,
though none claimed its residue.....

If in his eyes Eagle saw
enslaved down below —
deaf, blind, mute, and halt—
chiseled beings of stone.....

If Eagle brought to us
Freedom's greatest Light
placed gently into sculpted hand
Truth of Wrong or Right.....

If Eagle rose up slowly —
awaited cold, death-like grip
to make courageous effort
to be distinguished from the rest.....

How many times would Eagle come
to retrieve the Greatest Gift
until, Eagle's mission complete,
stone moved — transformed into Man?


© 1994 Linda S. McKinney

Monday, June 25, 2012

Let's Create A New Month!

“National Bubble Bath Day”
“Lumpy Rug Day”
“National Anti-Boredom Month”
“Fishing Week”
“National Irish American Heritage Month”
“National Grapefruit Month”

Did you know about these? All of these are actual items that our United States Congress spent our money being paid to create the paperwork for, to use electricity and printer ink for, and to vote on. All of the items listed are actual days, weeks, months that are remembered via listings on calendars, acknowledged via organizations, County Commission meetings (depending upon the item, of course), or mentioned on the floor of the House for their particular days/weeks/months. Amazing, yes? You think that’s amazing, there are a LOT more that I didn’t list. Check it out at “Holiday Insights” . You’ll drop your jaw.

Do a search for “National American Pride Month” and you get returns about “gay pride”, or “National Caribbean American Heritage Month” or “Native American Heritage Month”, but not a “National American Pride Month”. Why not?

Where is it that says that Americans cannot have pride in America? Why is it that we are the only ones who cannot have a month, week, day (besides July 4th) for expressing our Pride in the good ol’ U.S.A.?

I have been contacting my U.S. Representatives – or the future U.S. Representative for my district, whoever that may turn out to be – and asking him (Mica) or her (Adams) to sponsor a bill that would make July “National American Pride Month” and it would be thus forever more. I even contacted Sen. Marco Rubio about it via Twitter. Whether he or any of the others will do anything about it, I have no idea. But it’s something we really should push for. We should be proud of America and proud to be Americans. We should have a national month to say so. After all, if the hyphenated Americans get one, shouldn’t those of us who claim no hyphenation?

If you are proud to be an American and proud of America, support this cause. Write to your U.S. Representative, your Senator, and anyone else in the House and Senate whose contact info you have (brothers-in-law, uncles, sisters, moms) and ask them to support and sponsor/cosponsor a bill designating July as National American Pride Month. It’s time to bring back American pride and to shout it from the housetops and parade it in the streets. Gay pride has nothing on the U.S.A.! Let’s not let the strange, the obscure, the hyphenated, get designated celebration months/weeks/days without having American Pride as our own. It’s time.