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Hernando Today

Proud To Be An American

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By DONALD J. MYERS

Special to Hernando Today

Published: February 22, 2008

I find it rather difficult to understand how people who live in this great country can fail to be proud of it. We are the most generous country in history and are usually the first to respond to natural disasters in other countries.
We have sacrificed hundreds of thousands of our people to bring freedom to countries that lost their freedom to despots. Although we are the strongest country in history and could rule the world if we chose, we have not done that. As former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "We only asked for enough land to bury our dead."
As a career Marine, I had the opportunity to see many countries in this world. We have no true concept of what it is to be poor as an individual or a country. Those whom we designate as poor in this country generally live better than the middle class in most other countries.
I recall being a young lad during World War II when everything was rationed and in short supply. The movies always had the "Newsreels" during the typical movie showing the various theaters of operation in the war; however, they were totally controlled for content. We had bond drives that featured movie stars and military heroes in order to raise money for the war effort. We complain about our debt now, but by the end of World War II, our debt was more than 100 percent of our Gross Domestic Product.
When the war ended, many people were concerned about the millions of men who would be returning from the war and possibly not be able to adjust to a peacetime environment. What really happened is that a huge percentage went to college, while others turned to building new homes, cars and other commercial products.
Prosperity boomed and the growth of the nation was astronomical. We not only took care of this country, but the world. We rebuilt Europe and Japan, along with many other countries affected by the war. No other country in history has ever been as magnanimous. As we did this, we faced the "Cold War" against Russia.
I suspect that too few of our current students know very much about any of this. In the Marines, we spend quite a bit of time with our new enlisted and officers relating what makes Marines so special. We talk about our history and the feats of individuals and units. I recall during my own early education much of the same was taught about our history. Why do we not do the same today?
When I was teaching a course on the Vietnam War, the first course was at Anne Arundel County in Maryland, and the class was held in a high school in the evening. As it turned out, the current history book was in that particular classroom. I had time before the students arrived, so I scanned the book to see what it had to say about the Vietnam War. This was the longest and most divisive war in our history and there were four paragraphs about it, and one would think that President Nixon started it. Wow! I am almost afraid to read our current history books.
I know that as a nation we have not always been perfect. We did not treat Native Americans well, we interned Japanese-Americans during World War II, we had slavery, but we fought a war and lost hundreds of thousands to end it, and we continue to support other countries that want freedom.
Overall, I would compare our record to any other country in history. I am proud to be an American.

Donald J. Myers, a retired colonel in the United State Marine Corps., is a regular columnist for Hernando Today and lives in Spring Hill.

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