There are days like today when it is great to take stock of what it really means to enjoy freedom, and what it really means to be an American. This past week I decided to trace my roots back to those who immigrated to the United States. My ancestry is Swedish, Irish, Danish, and Swiss. Lucky for me, I live in one of the genealogy hotbeds of the nation ☺ so I am quickly able to access records and information about my ancestors. I also have family very interested in genealogy so I’ve got great books and records to peruse.
I read about my great-great-great grandfather who emigrated from Denmark when he was 17 years old. He was an orphaned at the age of 3 and from that point on was leased out every year to the lowest bidder. Every November, he was moved to a different home for a different year. At the age of 17 he found his way to America by boat and crossed the plains by train. He ended up in the Western states, homeless, alone, and with only the clothes on his back. He picked peaches and from what I can tell – lived in a cave! Time went on, he found a small education, got married, had children, and even became a judge in his community in his later years.
Being an American is not so much the gift of a golden spoon- It is the gift of an ideology that says “It is possible”: We are still left to determine our outcomes, just as others around the world who choose to make a difference and then do so. That is not only the enduring spirit of America, but also the enduring spirit of change, innovation and inspiration wherever it happens.
All I had to do was Google “What does it mean to be an American”. Unfortunately we are surrounded so often by the “naysayers” of all things good, of all things possible, even for the least of us. Our media often dismays me with their approach to our country; it’s struggles, and the ideals that have shaped America. Can you imagine the riots that happened in France happening in America? Sadly I can. What is dying in America is the will of a people ready to take their life circumstances into their own hands. The belief that no matter who you are, you can do and you can be what you’d like.
When we write off our life circumstances to be a victim of our birth, upbringing, nationality, or luck – we are in reality forfeiting the blessing that is ours – to take control of our destinies and to create the realities that we were truly meant to no matter where we live.
The world has become a much smaller place. I can hop online, or log onto my Ichat and instantly communicate with people from all over the world. The things that I conceive in my mind for my business, and so much easier to accomplish because of the technology that we have access to and the world economy that in my mind brings us much closer together than we realize.