Why I'm thankful

Author's Note: This column first appeared on Nov. 19, 2008. I have updated it and edited it slightly. I hope you enjoy reading it again.

Thanksgiving Day is tomorrow. It's a favorite holiday of mine, maybe my most favorite, and each year I try to gather my thoughts and reflect on why I am thankful. It's simple really. I'm thankful to be an American. I'm so thankful that by my birthright, I am what I am -- an American citizen. I believe most others who were lucky enough to be born here are thankful like I am, but not all are. Unfortunately some of our countrymen see few good things about our great nation and they blame America first for all the ills of the world. Nay-sayers have led them to believe that many people in other nations just don't like us, and they wonder what is wrong with America. On the other hand, I see what's right with America, and I wonder what's wrong with them.

Throughout our history we have welcomed people from all lands to come to this great nation to become citizens. We have insisted only that they do so legally. What is known as "The Americas," North, Central and South stretch from the North Pole to nearly the Antarctic Circle, yet we are the only nation in the Americas to proclaim that we are the United States of America. When we say we are Americans, everyone knows who we are. Regrettably, some within our country and outside it have a clouded view of what we stand for, but I want to point to a few examples of the noble things for which we stand.

In my lifetime we are the only nation in the world that has come to the aid of other countries when they were invaded, even though we weren't. Twice during the 20th century we sent our country's finest young men and women to fight in Europe. The first time was in 1918 when America joined with the French and English to stop the Kaiser from conquering Western Europe. With our help, our allies prevailed and an Armistice ended the conflict, but it didn't solve the problem. So, in 1941 after Poland, France, Holland, Belgium and parts of the Soviet Union had fallen, we declared war on Germany and again committed our armed forces to fight alongside our allies to defeat the Nazis. We did this to help the Europeans while at the same time fighting a ferocious enemy in the Pacific, Imperial Japan, who had cowardly attacked us by surprise at Pearl Harbor. We defeated Germany, Italy and Japan, but this time, we insisted that all hostile nations sign an unconditional surrender.

When World War II ended there was no doubt that the United States of America was the most powerful nation on earth. Yet, with all this power and after shedding the blood of hundreds of thousands of our servicemen and women, and at immense financial cost and valiant sacrifice in our homeland, we claimed none of the territory we had conquered, with the exception of a couple of tiny specks in the Pacific. I want to emphasize that we were never attacked by Germany, but we fought them twice, not for treasure or for territory, but to bring peace to the world and freedom to those who had been conquered.

Besides the World Wars, Americans have come to the aid of many nations in lesser wars or to assist in calamitous situations like floods, earthquakes and hurricanes. We have done all this and asked for nothing in return, except to let us live in peace. I know of no other time in modern civilization or world affairs when this has been the case. Usually, to the victor goes the spoils. You see, most of us alive now and the generations who have gone before us truly believe what the Declaration of Independence states ..."We hold these truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

It's been 239 years since these words were written, and the intervening years have witnessed unbearable hardship for some of our people, including those in involuntary servitude who suffered under the lash, as well as those who sacrificed their lives and limbs pursuing freedom for all of our people 150 years ago in the bloodiest of all of our nation's wars, the Civil War, and later in great World Wars and the many undeclared wars of the 20th and 21st centuries.

I try mightily to steer clear of politics on this day, but for the past few years I cannot. The man who has occupied the White House since 2009 promised to transform this country, and unfortunately, he has succeeded in a most undesirable way. He has been at the forefront of "the blame America first crowd," and has led us perilously close to socialism, class warfare, racial division and dependence on government handouts. Today, most of the Western World is engaged in a life or death struggle with radical Islamic Jihadists, with the most recent attack occurring in Paris a few days ago. Consequently we must be ever cautious and vigilant, restricting entry to our homeland until this Muslim scourge is eliminated. I'm sorry to say, The President of The United States still will not utter the words "radical Islamic Jihadists" to identify our enemy. Instead he is practically an apologist for those who in the name of Allah want to destroy our way of life.

Given time, I believe the American spirit will prevail, and by the Grace of God, new leadership will come to this great land of ours, as it has in past generations when it was most needed. So, this Thanksgiving Day I will once again be thankful and I will fervently ask that God Bless America.

I opine, you decide.

-- Willie Williams is a Siloam Springs resident. He can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.