We Are Amerians

We are Americans. We are tough. We are resilient. We don’t back down. We may squabble amongst ourselves, but when confronted by the enemy, we unite. We back each other up.

We came on the Mayflower and her sister ships and now we reach out to the outer edges of our universe. We walked across the plains, tamed rivers, and traversed the mountains. We settled in those mountain valleys, along the rivers, drained the swamps, and built homes in the plains. We established shipping ports on the coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. We built homes, villages, towns, and cities where there was once nothing but waste land.

We survived the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and the Mexican American War. We jumped into World War I and World War II when the chips were down and we pulled ourselves up by the bootstraps and rushed to the aid of our friends. We survived the Great Depression, Pearl Harbor, and Nine-Eleven. Not only did we survive, but we thrived. We held our own against the Red Menace and demanded that the Wall in Berlin be taken down. We turned back Russian ships carrying missiles to Cuba.

We have thorns in our history. We took native lands and lives. We let slavery step on soil meant to be free. We continue to pay for being on the wrong side of history for those and other transgressions. In the process of this Great American Experiment we continue to understand the full meaning of liberty. There are costs, but all along the way we struggle to reach the top, to reach the summit of freedom for everyone.

We lost some of the valiant and noble, like one who told us to not ask what our country can do for us but what we can do for our country, or the one who told us we should judge a person by the content of his character and not the color of his skin. Kennedy and King were not perfect. They were riddled with flaws, but they inspired us to greater heights.

We weren’t the first into space, but we were the first (and only) to put a man on the moon. We lost space shuttles, but we went back.

The dynamo of the American Spirit is American Ingenuity. Our conquering force is our winning desire. We do what it takes to overcome the odds.

We have fought the wars. We have dealt with terrorism. We have experienced economic disaster. And we will have wars and terrorism and economic disasters in the future. But we have the drive to survive.

Yes, we come here from the four corners of the earth looking for a new and better life. Many come with nothing but hope. Some dreams are dashed, but many are fulfilled, sometimes after generations, but they are fulfilled.

Now, we are faced with a new enemy, a new territory to cross, a swamp to drain: a pandemic. We have faced global disease before, but this time is different. Regardless, we will gather our strength and we will overcome the disease with determination. We will defeat fear with faith. We shall prevail with calmness and courage. We must not, we cannot panic.

We are Americans. We are tough. We are resilient. We don’t back down. We don’t retreat; we reposition. We will be better than we were.