You’ve got to love this country
Greetings family and friends! This has become a sincere saying of mine since I have arrived in the U.S.A. I used to say: “They still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse.” (from Okie from Muskogee) now I add that everywhere I go in the U.S.A. I see such a patriotic fervor and flags flying on every street and outside many homes. This is a great country and I, as a proud Canadian, am also proud to claim the good ole U.S.A. as my country’s friend and best trading partner. Where would we be without the U.S. in our back yard? We as Canadians need to appreciate this good neighbour. I know my two sisters and my brother-in-law Jim have always felt this way having lived here for much of their lives and I do understand their love for this country.
We have experienced such politeness and friendliness everywhere along the 3,575 km since leaving Hopewell on Jan. 25. I was out walking today and the people on bicycles call out to me from behind that they are coming. Young people open the doors for me and call me sir and when I do the same for them, they call me sir and tell me to have a nice day. I conclude that Americans are a very kind and generous people. Look how they contributed to many economies of the world and have never asked for one cent back.
On our way to Florida we stopped for fuel and we saw two hens fighting at the gas station. We thought it odd. Upon reading the newspaper, I find that in some areas they are free to roam wherever they want to and are treated as pets. Can you believe it? You’ve got to love America. Yesterday when I was walking through this 55-plus community called Caribbean Isles, I saw a quick movement to my left at the back of a carport. I thought it was a person waving so I automatically waved back only to discover a Chihuahua dog lifting his head to look at me. Even the dogs are polite to us. You’ve got to love this country.
The Tampa Times, a great newspaper is only $1 a day. Can you imagine newspapers costing so little? It keeps me up to speed on what is happening in the whole world. Yesterday, I ordered two coffees from Starbucks in St. Petersburg and perhaps the young man didn’t quite make me out and I ended up with just one. When he realized his error, he gave me the other cup free of charge and apologized.
We stopped for fuel last night on our way back from St. Petersburg. As I went in to prepay I noticed a man’s wallet left behind on the counter. I picked it up and ran outside (more like hobbling) thinking the previous guy had forgotten it. “No sir,” he said, “I have my own wallet on me but thank you so much.” I went back inside and mentioned it to the attendant who smiled and said it belonged to such and such a person. “He forgets his wallet here every day. You see, the owner starts drinking at 8 a.m. and by the time he comes here, he is quite loaded and forgetful so we just hold it for him until he comes in again.” You’ve got to love this country, I thought, because there seemed to be genuine caring shown to this unfortunate citizen with a drinking problem.
Shirley and I listened to the state of the union address by President Trump. We listened with an open mind and we were quite impressed with his flawless delivery of a long address on the state of the nation. I imagine there were many proud Americans watching and listening. We were quite impressed and thought the speech was excellent. President Trump must have had this well practised because there wasn’t one error. Perhaps he had a teleprompter but you could not really tell. What really dismayed us was that the opposing party never clapped once but sat there like zombies. We thought it was most disrespectful of them. Yes, maybe they were trying to score some points but it was a state of the union address and all Americans benefit when the nation is strong and united.
The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders, those in authority over us. I ask you all as Canadians to remember to do this for our own leaders who make difficult decisions on our behalf. I ask you also to pray for our neighbour south of us, the great country of the United States. They are going through a rough patch right now and we may think that their policies are wrong but this is a democratically elected president and he needs our prayers as do all their leaders on both sides.
We are thankful to be here enjoying a holiday and every day, as new situations arise, I automatically say in response with all sincerity: “You’ve got to love this country.” I just thought I would take a few moments and express my thoughts as a proud and a grateful neighbour who indeed loves all that this great republic of the U.S.A. represents.