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Showing posts with label patriotic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label patriotic. Show all posts

Tuesday, 7 August 2012

journal 1.2 - Good Nightmare

Posted on 13:35 by simmo
Good Mythical Morning Season 2 is HERE!!  And Rhett had a bad dream.  So did I, last night.
Alexander Hamilton portrait by John Trumbull 1806
In the first scene/part, I met Thomas Jefferson, who looked like (the much handsomer) Alexander Hamilton.  But I knew it was Jefferson, just because, you know?  (This happens a lot in my dreams: people don't match their identity.)

The weirder thing was that this was the immortal Thomas Jefferson--that is, he had never died or timetravelled, but survived to the 21st century.  Now, some stranger in the dream ruined it all by telling me this was not Jefferson but an impersonator (like, duh, lol).  But I only half-believed it.  I didn't want to believe it.  It was his voice--it wasn't totally ancient or anything, I just knew intuitively that it sounded like the voice of a man who had lived for 250+ years.  It's hard to describe, actually.  Sort of rich but frail, slight accent of some kind, and strangely addictive.  I don't remember what he said.  XD
Beautiful cape meares
The second scene/part (of the same dream), we were at the beach--Pacific Northwest style, cloudy, bright, and brooding.  There was a local myth about strange lights and stuff; of course, everyone thought it was silly, like Bigfoot or something.  And then I got freaked out because I saw the lights, in broad daylight too.

So it was a good/bad dream.  My theory is, in real life I was all excited about voting for the first time yesterday, so meeting a Founding Father is sort of the idealized symbolism (actually, it would be 10x as amazing).  The impersonator part is just realism/irony (sigh). 

I'm also excited about going to the Oregon Coast later this month.  No explanation for the creepy lights, except that I watched the trailer for Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter yesterday?  (Someone on YouTube said Gregory Peck could have been cast as Lincoln, so I had to see what it was like.)  Bad idea, apparently...
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Posted in patriotic, summertime ramblings | No comments

Wednesday, 4 July 2012

Land that I love

Posted on 14:04 by simmo
land, n. - 7. a realm, sphere, or domain

Maybe I was just tired; it had been an eight- or nine-hour flight.  One carry-on and one suitcase and a smattering of fluorescent lights in the eyes.  I was probably thinking about food.  Still, after seeing London in real life and getting pleasantly accustomed to "Mind the gap", it struck a strange and strangely wonderful chord with me to hear the U.S. airport official greet us with--what-do-you-know!--a not-British accent.  And at that moment, his familiar American voice was the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard.

But the United States is faces, voices, and principles, not just a particular airport in the world.  As far as I'm concerned, the U.S. could exist anywhere.  As much as I love its natural wonders, I don't look there to see America.  I only really see America in the principles that established her, in her miraculous survival, and in American citizens, those who were born here and those who have come here.  In fact, one of the best ways to understand America is to see it through the eyes of people who have known what it means to live without freedoms of speech, press, and personal beliefs.  Self-evident truths: we call them that, but we can't take them for granted.


Here, you have the liberty to say what you want about the United States, and we have the liberty to read what other people say about the United States.  And yes, in our history, various leaders and citizens have behaved like jerks, or worse, have committed horrific crimes, yet calling themselves Americans.  I don't defend that.  There are many conflicts in our history I consider to be disgraceful and embarrassing, conflicts that are typically glorified to some extent.  I don't glorify them.

But today is not about such conflicts.

Today is about a group of "Founding Fathers" and a piece of paper dated July 4, 1776.  A unanimous declaration.  That, and "States of America," are prominent in the declaration's title.  In an age of monarchical empires and kingdoms all over the world, 56 men were brave enough to call the tiny former-colonies states, and they did it unanimously.  They weren't stupid; they knew what could happen to even the best ideas.  But the Founding Fathers lived in the present and future at the same time.  They had the will to declare independence from one of the greatest superpowers of the time (of all time), and, despite their own faults and errors, they attempted to create a constitution that would keep the essence of America alive for as long as possible.  I believe they succeeded.

We call it "Land that I love", the same land as the "Land of the free".  That is, not only denoted by a place on the world map, but also a place, a "realm" in the minds of the human race.  There never was a nation quite like it before, and the United States has managed to remain unique ever since.  I'm not ashamed to say to anyone that I will live and die as an American citizen, always loyal to (if nothing else) the ideals we strive for and stand for.
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Posted in July 4 1776, patriotic | No comments

Monday, 4 July 2011

Happy 4th of July!

Posted on 08:24 by simmo
Declaration


Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations...You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes. - Washington, Farewell Address, 1796
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Sunday, 4 July 2010

Happy 4th of July!!!!!!!!!

Posted on 11:59 by simmo
:)  We're going to my aunt & uncle's house later today...maybe I'll take some photos! 

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Posted in patriotic | No comments
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