American

On the 4th of July, it's good to be reminded that if you are a citizen of this country, then you are an American. There is too much vitriol these days aimed about who is an American and who isn't. Listen, we were founded by a bunch of people from all over with different ideas on how the country should be run but they all agreed that they were all Americans. It doesn't mean we can all go around questioning people's patriotism, does it?

So, not to be jingoistic about it, but to celebrate this long weekend, I give you things Americans should be proud of:

1) Jazz, the Blues, Rock and Roll and hip hop: any culture in the world would give anything to have invented one of these musical art forms, but America fostered all of them.  That's pretty awesome.
2) 100% of all people that walked on the moon were American.  Yeah, we had some help from nazis building the rocket, but still, those were US citizens on the moon.  Impressive.
3)  Two brothers from Ohio that owned a bicycle shop built the first ever airplane.  Couldn't make that up if you tried.
4) The potato chip (or crisp) was invented in Saratoga Springs, NY.  Gotta shout that one.
5) we also invented the chocolate chip cookie.
6) the 1955 Chevy, the 1966 Ford Mustang, the Pontiac GTO, and the 1932 Ford Coupe.
7) Batman.
8) The movies of the 1970s.
9) Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, John Kennedy's Inaugural Address, Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.
10) Jackie Robinson, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers, Mickey Mantle and the New York Yankees.
11) The courageous story of the dive bombers at The Battle of Midway.  If you don't know the history, look it up.

Here's some other stuff to do as well if you needed it.

Go to a room with your music player, pour yourself a tall glass of your favorite drink, be it alcoholic or not. Now turn off all the lights and get it pitch black in the room, and then turn on, quite loudly but not too loud, Nina Simone singing the full 9 minute version of "Sinnerman".  After that song play "Take Five" by Dave Brubeck.  If you don't have some sort of religious experience, then you may not be human.

Go read Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird."  Listen to Jimi Hendrix play "Voodoo Child."  Read the history of Lewis and Clark, who not only mapped the Louisiana Purchase, but spent a lot of the time categorizing plants and animals while doing it.  Think about New Orleans, which is still one of the coolest cities to live in and visit, even after what happened with the hurricane.  Ponder driving Route 66, which even people from other countries want to do.  Think that somehow Hawaii, Alaska and Iowa are part of the same country.

I'm not saying that my country is the best in the world.  Hey, we do some. Weird stuff here that even I don't understand,  but our country has done some great stuff as well that we should be proud of without being too bellicose, and we shouldn't rest on past experiences either.  We should use these things to build for the future.

If you are n American, then this is yours as well.  Cherish it, and don't denigrate your fellow citizen.  After all, it's his/her history as well...