There Is No Shame Living In One Nation Under God

Congratulations to Italy! No, not for bowing out of the World Cup early for looking like a bunch of sissies in a sport they usually dominate. But congrats for jumping into what I thought was primarily an American thing. That is the movement to equalize everything; to scrub any sense of culture and religion from every school, government, or community building.

There are so many more pressing issues countries need to deal with than to equalize every social issue. Apparently studies show that Italy has the most bank robberies in Europe. Italy looked like they sent a bunch of old Bishops to play the World Cup. Their President likes hot teenagers over his wife. The Pope takes up residency on the ol’ Boot and now his religion is getting a kick in the ass by atheists or immigrants who want to rewrite or erase any sense of culture or history.

This sounds all too familiar in the supposed land of the Free and home of the Brave. We have been engaged in a financial crisis with a deficit growing larger than A-Rods ego or Lady Gaga’s wardrobe. We are dealing with immigration issues more heated than a Randy Johnson fastball. Sporting teams are laying off employees so teams can afford skyrocketing player salaries and the rising cost of crappy food and watered down beer. And we have BP spilling oil in the Gulf more than Lindsey Lohan spills her drinks.

Did I mention we are fighting so many wars that Sony and Microsoft can’t produce games fast enough for the PlayStation and Xbox consoles. LT, Tiger, Big Ben and Jesse James can’t keep their pants on. Did I mention a lot of people are out of work? Will somebody find Lohan a job? I hear Wall Street is for sale.

Ok, enough. But I hope you catch the point. There are so many issues our country is dealing with that are far more pressing than dealing with these equality issues that will cleanse any sense of culture and history that our country was founded on. The wackos want anything and everything that resembles, or closely resembles, anything to do with God.

You have a cross in your public office? Take it down! You want to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in your classroom? Not gonna happen! What? God is mentioned in our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? Better get some white out to blotch that out. Some kid’s great-great-great grandfather was Robert E. Lee and he is getting called a racist for waving a Confederate flag at his house. Parents are asking why their kid got suspended for wearing an American flag to school.

I’ve never felt so scared to show patriotism to my country. I feel scared to show interest in our history. I am scared to walk into a church. If I Google the Civil War and read about Confederates, will I be labeled a racist for showing interest? Will I make the no-fly list? God-forbid I ever thank God in public when I have a brush with death. Someone may try to sue me for pushing my religion.

How many other countries deal with these issues? I get the impression that most governments are protective of their history and culture and don’t see a need to please everyone. If an American women goes to Saudi Arabia, does she fight the law that women must be covered up? No, she does not. I know I could take flack for that since US courts now have the right to ask a Muslim to remove their scarf so that they can be identified. But you know what? That is the law, and with the growth in nutcases trying to blow big important things up, we need to do what we can do to protect our country. Does removing a cross make us safer?

As a child, holidays were never an issue. We had Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and all of the normal Christian/Catholic holidays. As I made my way through the school ranks, that began to change. Things were renamed Winter Break, Spring Break, and Fall Break to please more people. But even that isn’t enough for the many varying ethnic groups in the US. Maybe there are too many here.

Different religions want their holidays off too in public and private schools, and for the most part, the Jewish and Catholic communities found a way to resolve any issue. They created their own private schools. So why doesn’t everyone else do that to have control over their holidays? Hey, you know that’s a bright idea! Maybe other groups can start their own private schools and communities, and you can hang whatever you want to hang or remove whatever you want to remove, as long as it does not violate our Constitution.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see everyone put their heads together to solve cancer, find ways to provide everyone with affordable health care, find ways to create jobs, or to put their energy into improving our environment and energy consumption? It sure would beat fussing over these issues that are ruining what America is and what we were founded on.

I hope Italy can keep hanging the crucifixes in classrooms, I hope my children can feel free to wear the American flag, and I hope others can learn to live together and realize some things are just dumb to waste our energy on. There is no shame living in one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Just don’t go too overboard.