250 years of opportunity

The big 250! That’s right — two and a half centuries old, and still somehow younger than half the furniture in Europe. 

I remember the 200th birthday celebration. I was in second grade, and we all got to dress up for the bicentennial. I went as Davy Crockett, complete with buckskin coat, coonskin hat, and wooden musket. Yes, you could bring toy guns to school in those days, and nobody called a press conference. I did get aggravated, though, because people kept calling me Daniel Boone. There I was, eight years old, already learning one of life’s great lessons: history is important, but apparently hats are confusing. I remember the 225th, too. I was married with two kids and in the second year of my first term as a public service commissioner. Chances are I will not be around for 275, unless medical science gets a lot better or somebody figures out how to preserve me in sweet tea.

Now, the folks in Europe may scoff at this accomplishment and say, “We have buildings twice as old as that.” Well, good for them. We have gas stations with better bathrooms. But don’t listen to them. Two hundred and fifty years ago, you were something totally different and earth changing. In a world full of kings, queens, and hereditary monarchs, no one thought that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people would ever last. I’m sure the betting lines in London had the over-under on your demise sometime before 1800. But look at you now — from humble beginnings to the greatest country in the world, with 50 states, one Constitution, and approximately 900 different opinions on how to cook barbecue.

Now, I’m not saying you are the greatest because you are the wealthiest nation or because you have the mightiest military the world has ever seen. And yes, you do have some problems. You’ve had some rough patches, made some mistakes, and occasionally acted like a family reunion where everybody got into politics after the second helping of banana pudding. But you are still the greatest because you are the land of opportunity — the country where a person can change his or her stars. That is why people from all over the world risk life and limb to come to your shores. As Lee Greenwood once sang, “If I had to start again with just my children and my wife, I’d thank my lucky stars to be living here today, ‘cause the flag still stands for freedom, and they can’t take that away.”

So show off. Make a big production of the big 250. Shoot the fireworks, wave the flags, fire up the grill, and eat something that your doctor would probably prefer not to know about. And if the Europeans roll their eyes and remind us how old their castles are, just smile politely, mention World War II, and say, “You’re welcome.”

Happy 250th birthday, America. You may be loud, messy, stubborn, opinionated and occasionally impossible to get along with—but you are ours. And for all your flaws, you are still the place where freedom has a home, where hope still packs a suitcase, and where a second-grade Davy Crockett can grow up believing that anything is possible. So here’s to you, old girl. Happy Birthday and may God Bless the USA!!!!