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“The world is watching us, remember.”

Link here. An American man brings his Ukrainian wife to the United States for her first visit. Her impression will bring tears to your eyes.

And her husband’s impression?

The truth is, every American, each and every one of us, is privileged. We’re privileged because we are American.

If you don’t think so then lift your eyes to the horizon, over which exists a world where the overwhelming majority of humanity does not enjoy the self-evident entitlements we so flippantly take for granted—things like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

The more cynical among us will likely roll their eyes at the preceding sentence, writing it off as overwrought jingoism. But when hardship and war comprise your daily reality, you don’t take America’s greatness lightly, or for granted.

Whether we want it or not, we Americans have inherited an awesome responsibility. We are the caretakers of the promise of democracy for people around the world who yearn for it.

Of course, we’re not the only democracy in the world. But I’ve seen firsthand how the ideal of American democracy stands alone in the eyes of Ukraine’s soldiers, the Kurds in Iraq, or even octogenarian Tibetan freedom fighters. For them, America symbolizes a dream worth fighting for.

Remember. As Kennedy said, “We stand for freedom.” This means we have to defend it every day, even against our own neighbors and friends who have forgotten what freedom means.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

7 comments

  • wayne

    That is, a great story.

    (Not to diminish the power of the Article–I would not however, have referenced JFK– he said a lot of good stuff, but we all know his Dad was a major league bootlegging gangster, and JFK himself was a raging drug-addict and philanderer: “The medical records reveal that Kennedy variously took Codeine, Demerol and Methadone for pain; Ritalin, a stimulant; Meprobamate (Miltown) and Librium for anxiety; barbiturates for sleep; thyroid hormone; and injections of a blood derivative, gamma globulin, a medicine that combats infections. During the Bay of Pigs fiasco in 1961, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962, Kennedy was taking steroids for his Addison’s disease, painkillers for his back, anti-spasmodics for his colitis, antibiotics for urinary tract infections, antihistamines for his allergies, and on at least one occasion, an anti-psychotic drug to treat a severe mood change that Jackie Kennedy believed was brought on by the antihistamines.”

  • Dick Eagleson

    And even with all that, JFK was still a far better President than any of his Democrat successors.

  • eddie willers

    Great story.

    Am I the only one who thought the grandmother-in-law and the new bride looked like they came from the same family? And I mean by blood, not marriage.

    Did he want to marry a girl, just like the girl, that married dear old grandad?

  • wayne

    Dick–
    I am no fan of JFK, but I would agree 100% with your statement. He did drastically reduce taxes.

    JFK & Dr. George Burkley
    Dictabelt 9B.7
    April 1963
    https://youtu.be/pMv66Dw1WcM
    0:40

  • wayne

    Mass production of meprobamate tablets (Miltown)
    Wallace Laboratories circa 1955
    https://youtu.be/-lhxTUpxka4
    2:35

  • Gene Shipp

    America is not a democracy. Never was. Mob gets what the mob wants is what a democracy is.

    We were founded as a constitutional representative republic.
    We are now post-constitutional.

  • wayne

    Gene–
    Thanks for bringing that up.

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