16th Jul 2007
why I’m proud to be an American
Was reading something somewhere (Huffington Post maybe? I forget) that was talking about all the anti-American sentiment throughout the U.S. and in the world right now. Other countries hate us, the President’s approval rating is in the toilet, and we’re the easy butt of jokes right now. Right? But here’s the thing — I have never hated America or being an American, although I have hated many of the things my country has done both here and overseas, particularly in the name of patriotism (and not just the Iraq War. What about the Japanese internment camps, for example?)
You see, when I think of what an American, a true American, is to me, I never think of George Bush (either one). In fact, I pretty much don’t think of a President, although I think we have had some excellent leaders. Here are, to me, the real Americans, who epitomize what it means to be free: free thinking, free to speak, engaged and interested in the world around them.
- Henry David Thoreau
- Malcolm X
- Elizabeth Cady Stanton
- Eleanor Roosevelt
- Martin Luther King
- Cesar Chavez
- Mark Twain
- John Muir
- W.E.B. duBois
- Willa Cather
- Harper Lee
- Harriet Tubman
- Margaret Cho
- Thomas Jefferson
- Benjamin Franklin
- Dorothy Day
- Thomas Merton
- Rachel Carson
I know I am forgetting so many people — I’m curious, though. Who would you add?
The Native American Indians