"I Am the United States"

Happy Birthday, USA!!


I am the United States.

I was born on July 4, 1776
and the Declaration of Independence is my birth certificate.

The bloodlines of the world run in my veins
because I offered freedom to the oppressed
I am many things and many people.

I am the United States.

I am 180 million living souls
and the ghosts of millions who have lived and died for me.
I am Nathan Hale, Paul Revere, Washington, Jefferson and Patrick Henry
I am John Paul Jones, The Green Mountain Boys and Davy Crockett

I am Independence Hall,the Monitor and the Merrimac
I am Lee, Grant and Abe Lincoln.

I remember the Alamo, the Maine and Pearl Harbor.
When freedom called I answered and stayed until it was over
over there.

I am the Brooklyn Bridge, the wheat lands of Kansas
and the granite hills of Vermont.
I am the coal fields of the Virginias and Pennsylvania
the fertile lands of the West
the Golden Gate and the Grand Canyon.

Ohhhh I am big, I sprawl from the Atlantic to the Pacific
Three million square miles throbbing with industry

I am George Washington Carver, Daniel Webster and Jonas Salk
I am more than 170,000 schools and colleges
and 250,000 churches where my people worship God as they think best

I am the roar of a crowd in a stadium
and the voice of a choir in a cathedral

I am Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower
and John F. Kennedy.

Yes, I am the nation and these are the things that I am.
I was conceived in freedom
and God willing, in freedom I will spend the rest of my days.
May I possess always the integrity, the courage and the strength
to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom
and a beacon of hope to the world.

I AM THE UNITED STATES.

Inspirational poem, author unknown. Taken from here: (it was recited on the show this evening)

http://welkmusicalfamily.blogspot.co...ed-states.html

WOW!!!!!

That is absolutely awesome! The sentiment is beautiful and says so much. My grandfather served in WW-1 as a Navy diver, in WW-2 my Dad was at Omaha Beach, two good friends were killed in combat in Viet Nam within a week of each other, and now the son of a close friend is serving in Afganistan.

While reading this, all of them came to my mind. We need to remember the reason for this holiday!

That is how it struck me, too: WOW! So when I heard it, I came online to try to find it; and succeeded.

Originally aired on the 1964 show, so it is not new.