The Irrepressible American Spirit

I know I promised to post next with more about the gardens, but I’m inserting an extra set of thoughts in here based on what I’m thinking about today … to compensate, an extra photo for aesthetic beauty. :) Looking forward to this kind of summer in the bone-chilling and bleakest days of this winter!

It was somewhat surreal to be talking to my husband this morning on the phone and listen to him tell the story of the US Airways jet that crashed yesterday into the Hudson River. An incredible and miraculous story, for sure. It is more amazing to hear that story told from the other side of the world, as Brian is in Northern India right now. Listening to him retell it from the rest of the world’s perspective hit me in a different light.

We all marvel at the incredible feat and modern-day miracle that occurred when Captain Sullenberger landed an entire jet filled with people in an almost-frozen river running beside New York City. And, I think, we all marvel at the speed of the local ferries and boats which responded to the emergency immediately. That a handful of civilians would rush to help in blisteringly-cold weather demonstrates the amazing, irrepressible, American spirit.

On a local scale, yesterday, I had the awesome opportunity to witness the enthusiasm bubbling up from within a class of fourth-graders as they learned more about writing stories and realistic fiction. All around the room, hands popped up and waved like flags as the kids eagerly awaited their turn to contribute to the class discussion. Every child in the twenty-five student class participated in grand ways.

Being just a bystander on the education process, I marvel at the dedication and tenacity of our teachers as they go about the massive task of educating children. Not only do they endure crowded classrooms and interesting attitudes, but they also make do with less in response to diminishing budgets. For the sake of investing one of life’s greatest riches into the lives of the next generation, our teachers give, and live out daily the American Spirit.

For me, it is the little things, like the ferry-driver’s decision to fire up the engines and help someone in need, or the teacher’s daily decision to stand before a class full of energetic tweens, that define the American Spirit. And it is with these small and courageous acts of the real neighbors around all of us that I look with hope into the future. That by these small acts our children might learn to give of themselves for another, and that in doing so, we might all discover the truest sense of living—giving to help another—the irrepressible American Spirit.

Even in the face of these tough economic times and the uncertainty of the coming years, it is with hope I look forward to our future … God bless America.

One last thing—on the 23rd, I’m hosting a friend and fellow writer to talk about her new book entitled Rest, author Keri Wyatt Kent. Looking forward to that!