Thankful

Zack A. Crumpton, my grandfather, in his World War I uniform

Ode to America on Independence Day
by Robert A. Waters

I thank God that I was born in the United States of America.

You see, I could have been born during the Dark Ages.  For five hundred years, after the fall of Rome in 480 A.D., Europe descended into famine, plague, wars, and the intellectual domination of barbarians.  Life as we know it didn’t exist.  Back-breaking labor from dawn to dusk became the lot of the peasants.  Death by sword, disease, or constant toil cut most people down before they reached 35 years of age.

I could have been born during the era of the Black Death.  In the 1300s, 75-150 million people across the planet perished, a number so staggering as to defy imagination.  No medicine could cure the plague, no religious incantations stave it off.  Carcasses littered cities and villages and country-sides like flies.  Once the Black Death ended, survivors were emotionally scarred for life.

I might have been born a kulak in Russia during the “Red Terror,” when Lenin and Stalin murdered tens of millions.  Or I could have lived in countries ruled by Hitler or Pol Pot or Fidel Castro.

But I was one of the fortunate few.

I grew up in the United States during the 1950s.  All my family—parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents—were Christians.  While it has become fashionable among some to denigrate Christian faith, I can’t imagine life without God.

I grew to manhood when education was available for the masses.  So instead of slaving day-to-day in searing-hot fields, I’m thankful that I was able to attend college and work in air conditioned buildings.

I’m grateful for the medical advances that allowed me to live a healthy life.  Without modern medicine, I would have died when I was 57.  Open heart surgery saved my life.  I’m grateful that physicians through the ages developed advanced knowledge of the human body and the tools to fight off disease and afflictions.

America, land of freedom, land of dreams, a country where life slides by in monotonous, yet eventful days.  Our freedoms were earned with the blood of strangers, those who cared enough to die for people they would never know.

America, where we can live the way we want, as long as we don’t harm others, where we can choose our own paths.

I’m thankful for this country, and for those who came before and paved the way so that I could live a life filled with wonder and joy.

I thank God that I was born in the United States of America.