"I Am the United States"

[Freedom]

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

[momcat]

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!

[Freedom]

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.