Posted by Rich on July 04, 2001 at 14:15:55:
In Reply to: Happy Fourth... Tap on the walls..make contact posted by John on July 04, 2001 at 14:07:18:
Very well said, John!!!
Happy Fourth back atcha, neighbor!
: Hello Friends..... I’m only 36, and I, as most other people my age, still have to overcome the
: notion that the modern world began when I was young. But since then and now things seem
: different than what I can remember - I look around and find I am living among strangers and
: what ever has passed between then and now has left me the fear that I have little in common
: with them... they don’t come over to borrow a cup of sugar, we don’t hang out on the front
: porch, we don’t go to the same church..... I’m not sure if they know why we have a Declaration
: of Independence, a Constitution, an American and National League... I’m not sure if we have
: any common values.
: Which brings us to this day, a celebration of our country. I find that I don’t know my
: neighbors as well as I should and that makes ME the problem - I’m making us all weak.
: America is country if neighbors.... it always has been and I’m the one who is being un-American.
: Then I remember something from my Navy days. They made us fliers go to a school to learn
: how to survive imprisonment. If a learned nothing else, I learned that I must make contact with
: my neighbor.... If that is not allowed.... if that is not possible... if I am placed in a solitary cell...I
: am to tap on the walls of my cell... and make contact with the man in the cell next to me.
: It is a great day to tap on the walls...to meet my neighbors...to shake their hands... to sit on the
: front porch with them... to light fireworks with the teenagers...to share food and laughter.... to
: break the ice and start being a neighbor that can be relied upon and can rely on the others. That
: is what is patriotic, that is being a great American.... that is the vision of the founding fathers.
: HAPPY FOURTH.