Thanks for forwarding this. Being a sixth generation Texan on paternal and maternal sides, I can thoroughly identify with everything included here. Born and bred Texas proud! Sandra Railsback Smith ----- Original Message ----- From: "Katrina Weis" <kat_weis@hotmail.com> To: <TXBOSQUE-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 4:48 AM Subject: [TXBOSQUE] What it means to be Texan > This was forwarded to me and I wanted to pass it on. I know it isn't > specifically about genealogy but maybe someone might want this so they can > understand what it truly means to be a Texan. Or if you're like me and far > from home maybe to just remind us of what we are. > Proud to be a Texan!!! > > When you're from Texas, people that you meet ask you questions like, "Do you > have any cows?" "Do you have horses?" "Bet you got a bunch of guns, eh?" > > They all want to know if you've been to Southfork. They watched Dallas. > > Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look at Texas with me just for a > second. That picture, with the Panhandle and the Gulf Coast, and > the Red River and the Rio Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever > will be. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at it they know what > it is. It's Texas. Pick any kid off the street in Japan and draw him a > picture of Texas in the dirt and he'll know what it is. What happens if I > show you a picture of any other state? You'll get it maybe after a second, > but who else would? Even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings in you? > In every man, woman and child on this little rock the Good Lord put us on, > there is a person who wishes just once he could be a real live Texan and get > up on a horse or ride in a pickup. There is some bit of Texas in everyone. > > Did you ever hear anyone in a bar go, "Wow...so you're from Iowa? Cool, > tell me about it?" Do you know why? Because there's no place like Texas. > > Texas is the Alamo. Texas is 183 men standing in a church, facing > thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting for freedom, who had the > chance to walk out and save themselves, but stayed instead to fight and > die for the cause of freedom. We send our kids to schools named William B. > Travis and James Bowie and Crockett and do you know why? Because those men > saw a line in the sand and they decided to cross it and be heroes. John > Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is the Spirit of Texas. > > Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San Jacinto. > > Texas is Juneteenth and Texas Independence Day. > > Texas is huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett National Forest. > > Texas is breathtaking mountains in Big Bend. > > Texas is shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas. > > Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork. > > Texas is Mexican food like nowhere in the world, even Mexico. > > Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards and the Bass Hall. > > Texas is life legends like Willie Nelson and Buddy Holly, Earl > Campbell and Nolan Ryan, Denton Cooley and Michael DeBakey, Sam > Rayburn, George Bush, and George W. Bush. > > Texas is great companies like Dell Computer and Compaq. > > Texas is huge herds of cattle and miles of crops. > > Texas is skies blackened with doves, and fields full of deer. > > Texas is a place where cities shut down for the Cowboys on Monday Night > Football, and NIOSA River Parade in San Antonio. > > Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and > prairies, and modern cities. > > If it isn't in Texas, you don't need it. > > No one does anything bigger or better than it's done in Texas. > > By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can fly its > flag at the same height as the U.S. flag. Think about that for a > second. You fly the Stars and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland, or > California, or Maine, and your state flag, whatever it is, goes at 17. > You fly the Stars and Stripes in front of Pine Tree High in Longview at > 20 feet, the Lone Star flies at the same height - 20 feet. Do you know > why? Because we place being a Texan as high as being an American down > here. > > Our capitol is the only one in the country that is taller than the > capitol building in Washington, D.C. > > We included these things in as part of the deal when we came on. That's > the best part right there. WHEN WE CAME ON. > > Texas was its own country. The Republic of Texas. Every time I think of > that I tear up. It makes you proud to be a Texan!! > > > _________________________________________________________________ > MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE*. > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail > > > ==== TXBOSQUE Mailing List ==== > A smooth sea never made a successful sailor. > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >