Prior to this year, I was proud to be an American. I believed our country stood out among the rest as a “beacon of good” for the world and its inhabitants. Sure, America made mistakes. But, I thought on the whole our country tried to act in the best interests of all, both for America and for other countries.
Over the year, 2009, I developed a sense of embarrassment at being an American. The feeling emerged as our President continually apologized to the world for past poor American behavior. It seems our President agrees with Chavez and Ahmanjihad: America is the Great Satan. We are driven by capitalistic greed. Our overseas actions have been colonialist in motivation while reaping profit from other countries. We acted as the world’s bully and invaded other countries. American arrogance forces us to meddle in the affairs of other countries. Americans don’t show the proper respect for Islam. Etc., etc.
Michelle added to my “down” mentality with her statement that she had never felt proud of America until her husband was elected president. And, of course there is Barack’s pastor, Reverend Wright. We have heard replays of his sermons berating America. Our President sat there attentively for twenty years.
It all got to me. I developed a mood of depression as the litany of evil American doings played on and on.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, came an unexpected breath of relief from continual condemnation of America. In an address to our Congress, Angela Merkel thanked America for the unselfish acts of the Berlin airlift and for our prime role in hastening the fall of the Berlin wall. What a lift it was to hear her words. She spoke of the America I have been proud of all these 80 years, “doing the right thing”, even if it was for others.
Thank you, Angela! Is it possible for you to come back every year and remind us of our proud heritage? You see, we aren’t likely to hear much about it from our President. His focus is on apologizing for, and correcting, what he sees as our “dark side.”
