Happy Birthday!
No lie, this video chokes me up.
Sometimessome and I both agree that it’s often the foreigners, the outcasts, that love this country the most. I’ve been to other countries and young people that rant about the state and the past of this joint have got to travel somewhere and see how lucky we are here.
A dude named Anthony Walton once said that, America’s greatest strength, and its greatest weakness, is our belief in second chances, our belief that we can always start over, that things can be made better.
This country has treated my family well. Not by handouts (we took none) but by chances. We only ever wanted the chance. I’ve made so many horribly stupid, stupid mistakes in my life. And each time, it’s like I get another ticket to ride. Quite something, this joint.
I’m always forgiving people their stupid mistakes. Cause I want so badly to be forgiven mine.
This place suits me just right.
It’s a fantasy. The hope that my better day around the corner is at a corner in Germany. Or China. Elsewhere. Still, this is home.
Yeah, I wanna spend some time elsewhere. But I can’t imagine getting old anywhere else.
Happy Birthday.
Location: 15 mins ago, leaving a gin mill
Mood: sotted
Music: Let them say of me, I was one who believed
6 replies on “My corner in and of the world”
totally agree with your first thought. i remember a few years ago a coworker born and raised here badmouthing the states. nothing diff than what a lot of us do off handedly. And then another coworker, this really quiet, sweet girl who grew up in another country — got so worked up, and yelled at him for being so ungrateful, and i thought inside… go her. she brought a tear to my eye b/c you could see just how much she loved this country.
I can't believe I'm only seeing this comment now, four years later! But yes, I think that people that have been elsewhere understand what this country really offers.
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