I have a confession to make: I hate the white supremacists, KKK, neo-nazis, fascists – whatever name the far right demonstrators are calling themselves today – as much as they hate me. So there.
I need to go back to my high school civics class where the teacher should instruct me to write on the blackboard at the front of the room:
“Hate is not an American value, tolerance is.”
“Discrimination is not an American value, inclusion is.”
“Violence is not an American value, dialogue is.”
Complete this sentence:
When I think of America, I think of…
What do you think of?
(Send me your answers in the comments section please.)
I'll Call It Like I See It 
Comments
18 responses to “repeat after me, repeat after me”
. . . hope. I just can’t allow myself to believe that a country that elected Barack Obama, supported healthcare for all, recognized the importance of protecting our environment, and worked to guarantee that two people who love each other can marry can let hate win. At least, I don’t want to allow myself to believe that. So I cling to hope.
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Good for you, Miss Harper Lee…we will cling with you.
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I added your comment to my post…thanks!
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I love the responses you’ve received. We all want to believe in what’s good and right. There’s a power in that.
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I agree, Miss Harper Lee. I loved these responses, too.
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Freedom! and to be proud of our country and her leaders…its pretty simple- or i use to think it was.
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Thanks, Cindy – yes, Freedom is what it’s about – and used to be pride could be in there, too…now, not so much.
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Freedom … and we’re still working on it for everyone.
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Thanks, Bob…it is a work in progress.
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All the Americans I know are wonderful people, Sheila (like you). So it’s difficult as an outsider to see what’s happening in your country and wonder who all these idiots are. I guess every country has it haters and ugly side. People who have a sense of entitlement and think they are superior are those I tend to avoid like the plague – but if they’re running the place, they can be very hard to ignore 😦
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I appreciate your comments, Dianne. I sometimes worry so much about how people in other countries must feel about us now. I try to write to counteract hate in my blogs – to encourage the positive. Sometimes it feels like swimming upstream must feel. We must keep the connections going – the RUC and your American friends!
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…the Constitution and Bill of Rights serving all our citizens EQUALLY and extended to guests of this country as they visit, work and study here, in what hopes is safety.
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Exactly, Ann…for us AND our guests. Well put.
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Freedom first, but then in recent years I have felt embarrassment and regret. Our system does not work the way we were taught in 7th grade civics, and I’m disappointed.
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Me too, Robyn. Maybe it never did for all of us, and that’s a disappointment all on its own. I had hoped we were getting closer.
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Abraham Lincoln .. Louis Armstrong .. Hank Williams .. Emily Dickinson … Jackie Robinson .. Bob Dylan .. Eleanor Roosevelt .. Clarence Darrow .. Herman Melville … Howard Hawks
Regards Thom
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I love these, Thom! Thank you for the list!!
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Thanks to you.
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