Greetings,
As I write, it is the Fourth of July. Independence Day. What a glorious day this is for Americans to celebrate. My dear sister and her adorable kids are here visiting, and we watched the movie '1776' last night. If you can stand hearing our founding fathers using TOTALLY uncharacteristic language (I don't think for one moment that they would have taken the Lord's name in vain like they do in this movie) and can fast forward through all the singing and dancing, it is a great movie. It puts faces to names like John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Thomas McKean, and Benjamin Franklin.
This morning, a fellow NRA Field Rep, Brian Swartz, posted a link on FaceBook to a video showing a talk show host on the beach with a microphone interviewing folks over the 4th of July weekend. He asked them what we were celebrating, and almost none of them could come up with a solid answer. He then gave blatantly false suggestions like, "Isn't it great that we have the 4th of July so we can celebrate our victory in the Civil War and over the Nazis?" The people didn't even notice. They smiled and agreed. It was a terribly depressing video to watch because it is an honest representation of how little the general American public knows about our history...and what's worse, how little they actually care. So long as they can party, drink beer, eat BBQ and blow up some fireworks, they are fat, dumb, and happy.
This brings me to the subject of our volunteers and banquet attendees. I bet we could take a microphone around at any one of our over 1100 Friends of NRA events anywhere in the nation and get nearly every person in the room to correctly identify why we celebrate Independence Day. Even the children could most likely identify with whom we fought to gain our independence. A comment about the Civil War or World War II would immediately be identified as false, and a thorough explanation would most likely commence.
It's a different mindset. We are the fabric of a Patriot Nation. We care about our history. We understand that if we don't learn from it, we are destined to repeat it. We are deeply concerned about how much our children understand about how we have gotten to live the way we have for the past 235 years. We love our country. We love our military. We love our freedoms.
It brings me great hope to see young people attend our banquets, respectfully remove their hats and say the Pledge of Allegiance, stand and applaud the veterans in the room, and give their time and energy to preserving our 2nd Amendment right. Some are there because their parents brought them along; they didn't have a choice, but found themselves enjoying the evening anyway. Some are there because they have benefited from one of the NRA Foundation Grants, and want to give back to the program by volunteering their time. Some are there because they are the future leaders of this great country and are already dedicated to preserving our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Whatever the reason, they are our future ... good or bad ... and I'm thrilled to see them taking part in such a wholesome family activity.
In short, our volunteers and banquet attendees are true, bonafide, dyed-in-the-wool, red-blooded American Patriots, and I'm proud to be included in their number.
God bless America, land that I love ....
Blessings,
~Gwen
http://www.friendsofnra.org/
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