I Am Unapologetically American.

If one were to watch the news, or about 20 minuets of proceedings of the UN General Assembly, one thing you notice is there's a lot of snide comments about how bad America is.  Once upon a time when Europe finally united together, it was predicted that the Euro would utterly bury the Dollar, that the Old World will utterly crush the New with its unified economics.  I remember being told that the state of things in Africa was at least partially America's fault.  You know what?  I call bull. 

The UN, despite it's lofty aims has not been able to prevent a single war, and routinely puts nations into civil rights councils that are clear violators of even the most basic of civil rights.  Their relief efforts are somewhat laughable at first, until they turn horrific, like introducing cholera to Haiti after an massive earthquake that killed thousands of people.  That little slip up killed hundreds of thousands more.  In Syria, we have seen even the most basic mission has failed, and they're high tailing it out of there.  Yet despite this, people are still looking to America.  Say a massive natural disaster were to strike one of those second or third world countries that spend so much time bad mouthing us, who exactly do you think they would call to bring relief and aid?  America. 

The Euro which was this great idea, a symbol of unity and the economic "future" is about to go belly up.  It might seem like hindsight being 20/20, but uniting several disparate economies with several different political views, was doomed to fail.  There are just 4400 words in the US Constitution, do you even want to guess how many words are in the EU charter?  Well the "essential rights of man" are at least 26 pages.  Keep in mind that the American document that detailed the "inalienable" rights of men, and the goverened was one page.  The EU is barely a few decades old and in serious trouble.  While America is not doing so hot, we have weathered greater storms and I have complete faith that we will weather this one too.   

For all those snide comments made by those "in the know" more often than not is is found that they are reporting on the way they wish things were not the way they are.  Perhaps the most infuriating thing about America to those people is that we consistently prove them wrong.  What can a bunch of Yankee Doodles do against the mighty British Empire?  Hold our own, and be the only nation to gain freedom from the British Empire by rebellion.  Our birth was a revolution, truly.  But just 85 years later it was ripped apart by a truly brutal Civil War.  Looks like the American nation is done for.  Nope.  We came through the crucible as a nation, and "these united States" became the United States. 

We became a bicostal nation, with more land mass than several countries in Europe, and we turned that into opportunity.  From a man selling pocket watches from a railroad station, eventually founding Sears, and economic powerhouse, to Buffalo Bill, a showman who kept the Wild West alive in our imagination even long after it had ceased to be wild, if you can think it up, you can make it happen, regardless of your station in life.  Europe didn't pay much attention to America, until near the turn of the 20th century, when our "Great White Fleet" kicked the ever loving snot out of the Spanish armada. 

the 20th century was no less eventful.  From breaking the stalemate in the Western Front in WWI, to surviving the Dust Bowl, and the great crash, and the Great Depression that followed we have proved we were resilient, and the world started to give us respect, and listen to our thoughts on matters.  WWII proved that America could do what no other nation on Earth could, fighting both fronts in the war, and more importantly winning.  As brutal an enemy as Japan was, and as professional, and just plain good at war as Germany was we beat them.  Both.  Matter of fact, at one point we were fighting in three fronts (Italy, Germany, and Japan).

The Cold War was tense, but we won that too, without firing a shot at out main belligerent, the Soviets.  In fact just the simple words "Mr Gorbachev, tare down this wall" toppled one of the most brutal authoritarian dictatorships in human history. 

Yes we are hurting now.  As I write this I'm a month behind on my car payment, I'm late on my credit card bills and I'm having issues with the College I'm going to, who are threatening to delete my classes because they're not tracking that I have the GI Bill.  You know what?  I am actually not too stressed about all of that.  I have a place to stay, food to eat, and a job.  Could you honestly say someone in my position, a day late and a dollar short, could actually be hopeful about the future in any other nation in the world?  I'm an American.  I know for a fact that we have a hunger as a nation to succeed.  As I write this there are men and women across the nation chomping at the bit to try their hand and strike it big.  I know we have in our character the ability to reinvent ourselves and accomplish literally anything we put our minds to.  We put men on the Moon!

There are many things I will willfully admit I was wrong, and apologize for, but one thing I will NEVER apologize for is being an American!