Most of the music taught at this school was of other languages, other cultures. The books they read were not written by American authors, but focused only on other cultures, and other alternative family situations. For the longest time My Eldest child thought our family was strange, because she had a Mother and Father, and not a Father and a Father, or a Mother and a Mother or even only a Mom or only a Dad. She was teased because she had a family at home, A Mother and Father who not only lived together, but they were married, and had never even been divorced! The ridicule continued when she ( a Girl Scout since Kindergarten) would wear anything red, white and blue or anything that was Girl Scout related.

We moved, bringing our little family to a home in rural Nevada and it was the best move we’ve ever made. My Kindergartener can recite not only The Pledge, but all 50 states in alphabetical order, she can sing “The Star Spangled Banner”, “Grand old Flag”, “This land is your land” as well as “My country ’tis of thee” and “America the beautiful”. At Christmas Time, she had a Nativity scene in her class room, as well as a “Christmas tree” Not a “holiday tree”

The politics of a small community, a small county and a close knit school is beyond compare. The politics and the bantering for votes, catering to the sensitivities of those who are not here legally has injured our schools, our government and our way of life. Being in a rural area changes all of that. The rurals have the freedom to do what is right, not what is popular in the opinion polls on that given day.

It’s sad that we have lost so much, when progress is said that we have mastered leaps and bounds. We have so many “civil rights” advancements, but our children are afraid of being ridiculed for exhibiting patriotism.

I remember saying the pledge of Alligance as a child but I never said the words Under God because I grew up Agnostic. LOL. My son is Catholic and Mexican. I adopted him years ago and he says Under God and believes he’s blessed to be in such a country that affords him the choices he has. So, may we all be free and may we all appreciate our difference, as this republic is great indeed.

Thank you for teaching our future leaders one of the most important things they can learn about our country. The pledge of allegiance says it all and it is very touching indeed. I am a first generation Cuban American my mother was pregnant with me as she fled communism and the communists who tried to kill her for believing in democracy and human rights. These are frightening times in which we live. In my family we actually tear up when we say the Pledge and wee shout God Bless America after the National Anthem. God Bless You All on this Fourth of July…. Peace Out.

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

I met my future wife during my 2nd tour of duty at K.I. Sawyer AFB (1962) outside of Marquette, Michigan (the Upper Peninsula).

In 1967, I was in a “cushy” science/computer job at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. With the outbreak of the war in Vietnam, I just knew that I had to volunteer to go defend my country .. I felt driven .. it was no impulse, I assure you. I was angry at those that chose to flee America to escape the draft; and I chose to do the opposite by serving.

During the last duty assignment in 1979, I suffered a cerebral hemorrhage from which the doctors said I would never live, or if I lived, from which I would never fully recover. By the grace of Almighty God, I lived and fully recovered .. it was a true first-class miracle in every sense of the word.

I cannot explain it .. but I feel driven now, driven out of love of our country, to somehow be a voice, be a force, be something good to counter what I see going on in Washington, D.C.

Again, in the interest of full disclosure, I am certain that I definitely do not know what Our Blessed Lord wants this almost-69-year-old man to do, I really don’t. Ole Saint Paul had it easy .. he was “knocked off his white horse” and told point-blank by the Real Boss what to do. But I do not .. so the best I can do is to just listen and see if I detect God’s Whisper “John, I want you to do this .. ..”

Thanks for listening everyone.

John Love

May God continue to bless America, and may God bless you.