Insanity is a dish best served microwaved

As we all get ready for barbecuing, friends, and spirits, I am going to take a moment to reflect on what America is for me.  I was reading TIME this week and this week’s focus was what Obama could learn from Franklin D. Roosevelt.  First off, I admire FDR more than any American president.  He took bold leadership, although at times unilaterally, to try to solve the problems of our country.  Not for the 1%, but for the masses.  Some of his leadership and ideas are now mainstay American principles.  But the fact remains, he wasn’t try to serve special interests or worrying about poll numbers, he was doing what he felt was right for helping the people that needed him the most.  That’s America to me.   Helping those who needed it the most.

I am fascinated with the Depression era of our history.  Our grandparents and great grandparents went through more than we could even imagine.  Think about your grandfather or great grandfather standing in line for a soup and bread and that being his only meal for the day.  Or imagine going to the bank and having your entire life savings gone with the bank that failed.   How about traveling by boxcar or small vehicle, leaving the only place you knew, to travel to California with the hopes of picking fruit.  Most Californians would balk at the thought of being an orange grove picking fruit even now with the economy the way that is now.  However, their American spirit could not and would not be broken.  They made the sacrifices for me today to sit in my beautiful home, enjoying a long holiday, with two degrees sitting on my wall.   Their spirit is what America is to me.

So as I spend time with my sister and my nephews, I take a moment to thank all of those people of  ”Greatest Generation” for their sacrifices.  You have single handily made America what it is today.  Your sacrifices will always be a reminder to this nation that no matter how low times fall, we have it in our blood from you to handle anything that comes our way.