What is an American?

  Wednesday is the Fourth of July—our Independence Day. The question I have is: What does it mean to be an American? What can we do to strengthen our land to make it better?

  In the early years of our nation, many fought for the independence from the British crown. We were such an underdog at the time; many other countries thought we would never make it. But with the prayers and courage of our colonial forefathers they made it through to independence and wrote our constitution signed by all those who wanted to band together to form an independent nation. They were all God fearing men and they had the conviction that what they were doing was the right.

  Because these brave men had foresight and inspiration, we have reaped the blessings of a free nation. But how long will we be free? How long will our nation’s government hold up to the multi-cultralism being pushed on us. Why do we have to learn Spanish? Why shouldn’t those wanting to live here in this free land doing as they please learn to speak English as my immigrant grandparents did? This is our country and if they want to live here they should incorporate our culture into theirs, not the other way around.

  When our forefathers fought to became an independent colony, they believed in God and I believe that the majority of Americans still believe in God regardless of what the media says. So why is the government trying to delete God from our society? We are still the citizens of this country and shouldn’t cow tow to what our "one-world" government elected leaders push on us. Shame on us for electing them but by the same token shame on us for keeping them in office if they prove to lead us in the wrong direction. This is still our country and our land and our lifestyle and we should be able to enjoy the freedoms our forefathers fought so hard to keep. We shouldn’t be griping about our flag, our pledge, or our Christian beliefs because if you are not happy here, you can always leave.

  So what is the answer to my question: What is an American? An American is a citizen who stands up for what they believe in regardless of what the government says. An American citizen supports it’s constitution in the fullest sense and not change it so drastically that there is nothing left but socialist propaganda. An American citizen does his/her best to vote in national and local leaders to move us forward as a stronger nation and independent of other countries, not giving our jobs and our sovereignty away in the name of "helping the world".

  Today, we need to display our flag and remember the great responsibility and blessing it is to live in this country. We need to keep the memories of our founding fathers in our hearts.  We are Americans and we should never forget it.

-Valerie J. Steimle

Crunch Time Writing During the Holidays

            The holidays are fast approaching which means our writing time gets crunched.  Burning the midnight oil becomes more common as writing during Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays takes our normal writing time away.

            Writing crunch time means we will do more with our family and friends and less writing for ourselves.  This is not a poor choice by any means, but just a change of venue as we need to spend more time with our families and friends during these memory making experiences.

            Crunch time can also mean what we munch on while we are writing. The stuff we might snack on when we write helps us through our writer’s blocks.  I love crunching on trail mix when I’m trying to think. Some how keeping my mouth chewing keeps my mind busy on how to improve what I have written. Emotions are high as well and sometimes we can write more heart felt dialogue or narration with holiday music playing in the background.

            So sit back for holiday time and try to relax and enjoy the ride.  Family and friends are hard to come by so don’t disappear to your computer too much.  This is what life is all about.