Patriotism

There’s probably a more appropriate day for me to choose Patriotism as my gratitude post for the day….. but I’m doing it today!  Partially because my brother in law just posted a video on FB of his daughter Kelsi appearing on the David Lettermen show.  Lettermen referred to her as a Patriot.  One of the reasons she was chosen to appear on the show was because she could recite the Gettysburg address by heart!  Dave was always teaching her songs and such and just decided to teach her the Gettysburg address one day.  She was 4 yrs. old when she went on that show and she’d had it memorized for quite some time when she appeared.  The disappointing part about her being on the show was he never asked her to recite it!  She was adorable on the show however, but never got to do the Gettysburg address.  BUT…. she was singing songs about our country at a young age!  Sometimes I worry that these younger generations aren’t being taught to appreciate what a blessing it is to live in this free country!  It’s something we take for granted and I don’t think it always gets taught in the schools.

What are the statistics out there of how many people that don’t even know the words to the first verse of the Star Spangled Banner?  Seriously?  Our National Anthem?  Crazy…. I just found  a link to a website talking about that very thing.   A post made by someone who became an American citizen and knew the song long before they became one  and she was amazed at how many people didn’t know the words!  Here’s the link.

That is sad!  I grew up singing lots of patriotic songs…. maybe it was the era I grew up in and also that fact that the group I performed with at BYU had a patriotic name:  Sounds of Freedom.   I think those experience instilled patriotism in me even more.  We did a lot of traveling around the USA…. and it was a great opportunity to see parts of our beautiful country and it’s historical sites.  What a great country we live in!  Even though we have our problems…. it’s still a great place to be!  And that’s a reason to keep that patriotic spirit alive  and to care about what happens here in this great land…. so that it will stay a great country!!  So Thanks, Dave and Kelsi for reminding me to be a Patriot!    (If I can get a copy of that video, I’ll post it here…. otherwise you’ll have to go to my profile page on FB.)  I am Grateful!  How are you?