Thursday, July 4, 2013

Celebrating the 4th in Sicily

It's interesting to celebrate 4th of July outside of the country. This wasn't the first time that I've done it, but it was the most enjoyable. After all, how could it not be? I'm in Sicily. 

It started this morning as I walked to school dressed in my red dress with white stars, I walked past what I'm sure was a young Marine who saw the way I was dressed and gave me a knowing smile. I returned the gesture with a tip of my head as to thank him for his service. 

The day proceeded with all the American women coming to school dressed in some sort of red, white and blue. The school was very good about acknowledging our special day and created a party for "gli Americani" (and friends). Students from all different countries came to the BBQ. It was at that moment that I thought "Isn't this what America is about?" There were British, Swedes, Australians, Russians, Spanish, Argentinians, Swiss, Norweigans and some I'm not sure where they hailed from. One of the most interesting things to me was- that many of the "foreigners" dressed up in red, white or blue including a woman from Norway who was dressed in all three colors. It may have just been that she wanted to be festive, but to me it was more than that. It was a tip of the hat- to America- the home of the free and the land of the brave. 

I know we don't always do things right but it's times like this when I'm reminded that for all the negative press we may see about the U.S., in general, we are appreciated. We are a land of immigrants where people can come to pursue whatever dream they may have, where people can come to worship as they wish (or not worship at all) where with a dream and hard work (ok, and a little bit of luck) you can move up the ladder. 

I love to travel- about that there is no doubt but, I also love my country with a passion. I have always been proud to be an American and have no problem telling that to anyone I meet. I once was listening to a BBC radio program where I heard one of the announcers talking about "America and the green card lottery". He said "of course, Americans have no idea how lucky they are, they've already won that lottery". Coming from a Brit, this had even more of an impact on me. So, today and every day I'm proud to say that I did win that lottery and would not want to live anywhere else. God Bless America! 

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