God Bless America
I published this post in 2016, after that Donald Trump became president. Eight years later, I think it is high time to repropose it. And to add something. Back in the 1970s, I was a young postdoc at the University of New York. My wife and I couldn’t afford much in terms of furniture. But, hanging from the wall behind our bed, there was a big American flag. God Bless America!
- For having given me a job, a career, and a new language
- For my first home, where I lived with the woman who is still my wife after almost 50 years
- For being the land where my son was born
- For the fog of San Francisco's bay, for the great trees of the Sequoia National Park, for the Japanese gardens on the hill
- For the raccoons frolicking in the garden, for the blue jays landing on the window sill, for the lone coyote trotting along the street.
- For the bottomless cup of coffee, for the champagne brunch, for the maple syrup and the pancakes
- For Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Leonard Cohen
- For Rachel Carson, Lynn Margulis, and Donella Meadows
- For Ursula Le Guin, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov
- For all that and so much more
God bless America. She needs that.
I think a majority of humans today, both the rich and educated and they who are left on the platform prefere to move backwards into the future. I am surprised that they seem to do it of free will.
I assume you have to know that Leonard Cohen was not an American. He was as Canadian as they come, even though he died in Los Angeles (the day before Trump’s first election). it doesn’t much bother me since, as an American, we are quite used to and comfortable with appropriating what is not ours. I merely note this on the assumption that at least some of your Canadian readers might like to maintain the distinction.