By Karen Amend
Free. Faith-choice. Vote. Court System. Opportunity. Public Education. United.
Free: You perhaps have other words that describe what our country means to you. That’s one of the beautiful gifts of living in the US; we are free to hold our own opinions while respecting the opinions of others.
Faith: Imagine living in a country where there is one, state-mandated religion? It’s not hard to realize what that’s like with news from the Middle East.
Vote: I love to vote; it’s like our government asking me my opinion about how to run the country without having to move to Washington, D.C.
Court System: Gratefully, we have a system that eliminated guns, swords, weapons and cannon balls in the process of settling disputes.
Opportunity: We can work for ourselves or another, we can go to school or train on the job, and we can rent or buy a place to live. It doesn’t mean I’m owed these things. It means there are paths to attain them if I choose.
Public Education: I can learn and grow and achieve as a gift of our government. A democracy needs an educated middle class to make reasonable choices in life.
United: For me it means the beauty of all the colors of our faces, the richness of different rituals, cultures, foods, the embracing and welcoming of hearts and souls as Christ lived and taught.
What it means to live in the United States of America