Jack, I just want to thank you for the beautiful Fourth of July message. I am another one who loves this holiday and love my country. Your card was such a nice reminder of all we hold dear and cherish about this great nation that needs to be loved with loyalty and devotion. Pauline Jack W. Ralph wrote: > > Dear Cousins, > > I decided to stay home this weekend and avoid the crowds. Being the > patriot that I am, I wanted to share the following with you. After you > have read it, I encourage you to visit > http://members.aol.com/ceharger/Old_Glory.htm > (turn up the speakers for your sound card, if you have one) > and then visit > http://www.microserve.net/~rduffalo/july4.html > which is a very interesting poem that was written during the time of the > American Revolution. > > Enjoy, > > Nevada Jack > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > I AM THE UNITED STATES > > I was born on July 4, 1776, and the Declaration of Independence > is my birth certificate. The bloodlines of the world run in my veins > because I offered freedom to the oppressed: I am the United States > of America. > > I am 250 million living souls and have the ghosts of millions who > have lived and fought and died for me. > > I am Nathan Hale and Paul Revere. I stood at Lexington and fired > the shot heard around the world. I am Washington, Jefferson, and > Patrick Henry. I am John Paul Jones, the Green Mountain Boys, and > Davy Crockett. I am Lee, Grant, and Abe Lincoln. > > I remember the Alamo, the Maine, and Pearl Harbor. When freedom > called, I answered and stayed until it was over, over there. I left > my heroic dead on the bleak slopes of Korea and Vietnam--in Flanders > field, the rocks of Corregidor, and the desert sands of Kuwait. > > I am the Brooklyn Bridge, the wheat fields of Kansas, the granite > hills of Vermont. I am the coal mines of the Virginias and > Pennsylvania, the fertile lands of the West, the Golden Gate and the > Grand Canyon. I am Independence Hall, the Monitor, the Merrimac, and > the Challenger. > > Oh, yes - I am big. I sprawl from the Atlantic to the Pacific - > 3 million square miles of land throbbing with industry. I am more > than 2 million farms. I am forest, field, mountain, and desert. I am > quiet villages and cities that never sleep. You can look at me and > see Ben Franklin walking down the streets of Philadelphia with his > bread loaf under his arm. You can see Betsy Ross with her needle. > You can see the lights of Christmas and hear the strains of "Auld > Lang Syne" as the calendar turns. > > I am Babe Ruth and the World Series, 170,000 schools and colleges, > and more than 300,000 churches where my people worship God as they > choose. I am a ballot dropped into a box, the roar of a crowd in a > stadium, the voice of a choir in a cathedral. I am an editorial in a > newspaper and a letter to Congress. I am John Glenn and Neil > Armstrong and their fellow astronauts who whirl through the spaces > above my head. I am Eli Whitney and Stephen Foster, Tom Edison, > Albert Einstein and Billy Graham. > > Yes, I am the nation and these are the things that I am. I was > conceived in freedom and, God willing, in freedom I shall spend the > rest of my days. > > May I always possess the integrity, the courage and the strength > to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom and a > beacon of hope for all the world. -AUTHOR UNKNOWN. > > ==== DAVENPORT Mailing List ==== > View the Cousins Directory at http://users.intercomm.com/nvjack/davnport/others.htm