I was talking to a very dear friend the other day. We were discussing our lives and what was new in them. As with many of my conversations, our discussion began to include the election and various political view points. As our conversation progressed my friend stated to me that she was just an American American and not really into the politics of it all. She then asked me if that made sense. I chuckled and said that it did in a small way. Our conversation drifted to our children and husbands, but my mind stayed on the remark. I tried hard to come to terms with being "just an American American, not really into politics". I began to wonder how many of the men and women that died on 911 were just "American Americans". How many of the brave firefighters and police officers were just "American Americans". I wondered how many of the men and women in our armed forces are indeed just "American Americans". The thought chills me because, I am not just an "American American". Our nation is dying and it is due to the idea that we own our freedom, that we no longer have to remember our past. We stand united on the day of a crisis, no one does that better than an "American American". Then as the cameras are shut off and the media returns the slow and steady hum of what makes our world spin, we forget. We put it away because there are far more important things in our lives to deal with. Truly we are important as individuals, truly our daily grind is in fact the pulse of our country's heartbeat, but it is in those quiet moments when our country breathes together, that our true selves are defined. It is in that moment when we utter the words NEVER AGAIN, that we hold onto the real sense of being an American. It is our privilege to hold the colors of our nation, it is our honor to raise them up and believe in what they stand for. Our very soil is embedded with them, runs deep and dark and we simply forget. I know it is easy, I have at times been guilty of the same crime. The sale at the mall will only be for two more days and what about dinner, we have to eat, but what about the fact that those are our concerns only because we have brave souls out there doing what ever they can to guarantee us those beautifully simple moments in our lives? Are we going to look them in the face and tell them, I am sorry, but I am too American to be bothered with the politics of it all? Through out history humans have stood on the edge of change, they have held the moments that would decide for generations to come the life that would be lived. We are there, we are on the edge of forever and I wonder are we so far gone that we don't see the blades set up below us? Are we going to have to tell our grandchildren that we indeed held the key to a secure future but we were too American to turn the lock? This election holds more than who will be the blame of the next four years of ho-hum, this election decides what kind of Americans we are, we will be. What kind will you be? Perhaps I am too bothered with politics, perhaps I am not American enough, but until my last breath has drifted quietly away from my body I will care. I will care what kind of America my children get to live in. I will care what kind of America I will grow old in. America is dying and we need to realize it before it is too late to change that out come. What about you, are you too American to care? For our very sakes, I pray the answer is no. For our very sakes, I pray that you are not just “American American”.

That's the way I see it.