Taking After Felicity, Kit & Addy

      Everything in my life has recently culminated into one theme. America. Whether it be the Founding Fathers or the Alien & Sedition acts in U.S. history, Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried in english, or last week's Presidential election, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about my country. Frequently, I have been asked what it means to me to be American. There, however, isn't any one thing that defines my sense of nationalism. I don't think anyone can even try to capture the love and pride I feel for my country. 

       I believe in American exceptionalism, even if I do not have a "good" definition of what that is. I believe in the Declaration of Independence. I believe in National Treasure, not due to its historical accuracies (which it lacks) but because of the truth in the emotion, the truth in one's love for our country and its beginnings. I believe in the Boston Red Sox. I believe in Bruce Springsteen. I believe in Dick Winters and the paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division that began their journey in Toccoa, Georgia and ended it at Hitler's Eagle's Nest. I believe in Cold Stone Creamery and Golden Retrievers and baseball games (excluding the All-Star game). I believe in Thanksgiving because even though the Puritans' relations with the Native Americans were less than cordial, on that day we were able to put our differences aside. I believe in mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie, just the way Paula Deen likes it. 

         I believe in John Lewis and Morgan Freeman and Barack Obama. I believe in American Girl Dolls, like Addy and Kit, and I believe in lacrosse. I believe in great cities like Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Boston. I believe, perhaps unfairly or wrongly, that the East Coast is the heartland of the America we live in (at least the ancestral one). I believe in freedom and I believe in Oreos. I believe in Pearl Harbor, and the men who stormed the beaches on June 6th, 1944. I believe in Utah, and Omaha, and Pointe du Hoc. I believe in Michael Phelps and Candice Parker and Tiger Woods. I believe in cheesesteaks and cheesecakes and Nathan's hotdogs. I believe in the Jersey Turnpike and lobsters from Chauncey Creek in Kittery, ME. I believe in Route 66 and Sacajawea and Hollywood. I believe in soccer moms and hockey moms. I believe in little league baseball and Friday night lights, and Monday Night Football. 

           I believe in Disney World, even though I have never been to Florida. I believe in the Today Show and its captivating Sarah Palin interviews. I believe in peach orchards and Nobel Prize winners and the New York Times Sunday Crossword. I believe in tailgating and pizza. I believe in Broadway and Canal Street, and I believe in Fort McHenry. I believe in the well intentioned Robert E. Lee and in  George W. Bush, even though they made bad decisions. I believe in Paul Revere and in the Dallas Cowboys (I love Terrell Owens!) I believe in sixth grade concerts and family dinners and the Grand Canyon. I believe in documentaries and It's A Wonderful Life. I believe in diversity and talking about what makes us different. I believe in political debates and I believe in trivial conversation. I believe in being served chips & salsa when I sit down at a restaurant. I believe in baby sea turtles and I believe in yellow school buses. I believe in neighborhood pools and pick up games and ice cream trucks. I believe in the Golden Gate Bridge and Mount Rushmore and in buffalo wings. I believe in Angels in the Outfield, and The Sandlot, and The Breakfast Club. I believe in Alfalfa and Buckwheat in The Little Rascals. 

       I believe in country drives, and I hate country drives. I believe in blueberry pancakes and Lake Winnipesaukee and that if you give a moose a muffin, he'll want some jam to go with it. I believe I can fly. I believe in the Starbucks cups that say, "this I believe:" and I believe in the Green Goddess that welcomes people to New York. I believe in churning homemade ice cream on the back porch of the beach house with Grandad and in making a fort by the stream, only to find it inhabited by a homeless drunkard one afternoon. I believe in Model United Nations and in Mary Kate & Ashley. I believe in print newspapers and Dwight K. Schrute's dedication to the family business(es). 

       I believe in the Naval Academy and climbing a lard covered Herndon Monument. I believe in Memorial Day and Labor Day and Veterans Day and Columbus Day. I believe in Gossip Girl and Grand Central Station. I believe in Army Navy football and Yale/ Harvard. I believe in Western Kentucky University and the perennial Cinderellas of March Madness. On that note, I believe in Sleeping Beauty and Pocahontas and A Bug's Life. I believe in E! True Hollywood Stories and in John Wayne and Humphrey Bogart. I believe in white-water rafting and hiking the Appalachian trail. I believe in Kashi and Krogers, in Atkins and South Beach and Nutrisystem. I believe in Slimfast and Bowflex and I believe in McDonalds and the value of a double whopper. 

         Mostly I believe in the people who have made these things possible and I believe that, because we live in America, we will continue to benefit from great minds. I believe that our country is truly special and has the innate ability and desire to pull itself farther up the ladder. I believe America is so hard for me to define because it is always changing. It is always getting better. But America never forgets the Felicitys, the Kits, the Addys, the Jackie Robinsons, or the John F Kennedys. America never forgets those soldiers and civil servants that gave the ultimate sacrifice and America never ceases to produce more and more for me to believe in.