This inspiring slogan obviously does not inspire some who happen to live here. Some are determined to make themselves and everyone else as unhappy as they are about most everything. Perhaps because these unhappy people always seem more inclined to dispute that America was all that great in the first place. This is an odd posture to adapt - it appears to me to compromise the very things that gave this country greatness in the first place.
I am proud to be an American. Not necessarily because our history looks back on a perfect story. But because we look up to the ideals that lifted us up historically, and gave us the will to look forward, to go on. In spite of the challenges. In spite of our imperfections. My ancestors handed me an incredible inheritance, a place where opportunity was literally only limited by our own imagination.
Have we always been perfect? No, that was never the promise. Any who demand a record without blemish will need to look elsewhere, because it is not to be found here. We all have our own imperfections. But with the determination of our forefathers, the ideal is still within our vision. And within our reach.
