I only watched part of the game last night because the BURN NOTICE finale was on, but now I’m sorry I missed what looked to be an incredibly patriotic moment. For a taste of it, check out this clip of the flyover of 4 F16s by the 115th Fighter Wing of the Wisconsin Air National Guard. If you can’t see the clip, you can cut and paste this link into your browser:
Also click on this link to see the pictures of the Green Bay Packers crowd getting patriotic with an immense stadium-wide flag.
As the writer of that piece noted, it gave him goosebumps and I second that. It makes me believe that there is still hope for America. That there are still people who love it and the values for which it stands.
I know I do. America has given me everything and because of that I bleed red, white and blue. Some may criticize acts like this flyover and flag, as well as my extreme patriotism, as jingoism.
But the facts of my life only reaffirm for me the true meaning of America and the values which we should hold dear and reinforce to our children. I truly believe that keeping these American values are what will keep our Nation great.
What values? Well, here goes…
Success is the reward of hard work and no one should be ashamed of success.
You should not covet what your neighbor has, but strive to find your own path to what you want.
The most important things are not things.
You should respect the right of others to have different opinions, much as they should respect that you may have different opinions.
To quote John F. Kennedy, “Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.”
Pay it forward. If you’re successful, become one of those “Thousand points of light” that the first Mr. Bush mentioned.
Respect our Nation, the flag and our military. We would not be free without the sacrifices of the men, women and families of our military.
I leave you with those thoughts on the eve of the 10th Anniversary of 9-11.
God Bless America.
That was awesome!
And none of us will ever forget!
Never watch sports so I missed it. What’s nice is, my 7th grader came home yesterday, pulled out this white shirt (I have a picture of it on my facebook) with the twin towers overlapping the flag. Atop says Jackson Middle School and on the bottom says “We Remember 2001-2011) and said “They were handing these out today. They want us to wear it tomorrow.”
I had to check the calender to see when the 11th was. If it was on a school day I could see them wearing it then, seen that the 11th was on a Sunday, so it made sense.
I thought it was really great that they handed these out to the junior high school. My son was only three when it happened. My middle son was five months when it happened.
He indeed wore it. When he gets home I’m going to package it up and keep it with my author t-shirts