Posted on 10/14/2005 3:43:58 PM PDT by phatoldphart
When you're from Texas, people that you meet ask you questions like, Do you have any cows?" "Do you have horses?" "Bet you got a bunch of guns, eh?"
They all want to know if you've been to Southfork. They watched Dallas.
Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look at Texas with me just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle and the Gulf Coast, and the Red River and the Rio Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever will be.. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at it they know what it is. It's Texas. Pick any kid off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of Texas in the dirt and he'll know what it is. What happens if I show you a picture of any other state? You might get it maybe after a second or two, but who else would? And even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings in you?
In every man, woman and child on this planet, there is a person who wishes just once he could be a real live Texan and get up on a horse or ride off in a pickup. There is some little bit of Texas in everyone.
Did you ever hear anyone in a bar go, "Wow...so you're from Iowa? Cool, tell me about it?" Do you know why? Because there's no place like Texas.
Texas is the Alamo. Texas is 183 men standing in a church, facing thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save themselves, but stayed instead to fight and die for the cause of freedom. We send our kids to schools named William B. Travis and James Bowie and Crockett and do you know why? Because those men saw a line in the sand and they decided to cross it and be heroes. John Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is the Spirit of Texas.
Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San Jacinto.
Texas is "Juneteenth" and Texas Independence Day.
Texas is huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett National Forest.
Texas is breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend.
Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country.
Texas is the beautiful, warm beaches of the Gulf Coast of South Texas.
Texas is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.
Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork.
Texas is Mexican food like nowhere else, not even Mexico.
Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Astrodome.
Texas is larger-than-life legends like Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Landry, Darrell Royal, Rick Husband, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, Lyndon B.Johnson.
Texas is great companies like Dell Computer, Texas Instruments and Compaq. And LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSPACE, Home of the F-16 Jet Fighter and the JSF Fighter.
Texas is NASA.
Texas is huge herds of cattle and miles of crops.
Texas is skies blackened with doves, and fields full of deer.
Texas is a place where towns and cities shut down to watch the local High School Football game on Friday nights and for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football, and for the Night In Old San Antonio River Parade in San Antonio. Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and prairies, and modern cities.
If it isn't in Texas, you probably don't need it.
NO ONE DOES ANYTHING BIGGER OR BETTER THAN IT'S DONE IN TEXAS.
By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. flag. Think about that for a second. You fly the Stars and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland, California, or Maine and your state flag, whatever it is, goes at 17 feet. You fly the Stars and Stripes in front of Pine Tree High in Longview or anyplace else at 20 feet, the Lone Star flies at the same height - 20 feet. Do you know why? Because it is the only state that was a republic before it became a state.
Also, being a Texan is as high as being an American down here. Our capitol is the only one in the country that is taller than the capitol building in Washington, D.C. and we can divide our state into five states at any time if we wanted to! We included these things as part of the deal when we came on. That's the best part, right there.
Texas even has its own power grid!!
If you are a REAL TEXAN you won't even need to be told to pass this on!"
Exceptin' this year when it's been more like lonesome dove for me.
In these dark days when San Jacinto day is no longer a state holiday I pray that her special place in the hearts of all Texans and all who want some Texan in them stays strong.
The Eyes of Texas is not the state Anthem!!!!!!!!!
Texas Aggies hate that song.
It is the song for University of Texas.
According to us Aggies the song "sounds like he**"!
I was born in Longview, near Kilgore, and remember going to El Chico every other Saturday. Texas has the best Mexican (Panchos, anyone?) food in the country.
Juneteenth is Martin Luther King Day. Frankly, nothin' much happens that day but it's a paid government holiday and an excuse to eat fried chicken and watermelon.
Spent a few years in LA, more in SF. Had to get away from the liberals' wet dream......
While taking a walk, passed by a gentleman and commented on the high humidity (live in Virginia) -- he said he was from Texas and that the weather here in Virginia was heaven. He said Texas has two seasons: Summer and Hell.
Whoa... I lived in Wylie from '63 to '67, just a little east of town. I looked it up on Google maps a few weeks ago and it sure has changed.
Thanks for the great memory.
Boo, hiss, spit. Gig 'em Aggies!
Juneteenth, is June 19th. Martin Luther King, Jr day is in January. Juneteenth has been celebrated for almost 150 years.
Your screen name is extremely fitting.
That quote gets attributed to several folks, but I think it was Gen. Phil Sheridan (one hell of a calvary officer, even if he was a yankee)who said it during Reconstruction.
I had the honor of being born there, but that was a while ago.
Anybody remember the Mobil history comics?
Texas, the state that bred the world's rankest buckin' bull, the Yellow Whale, BODACIOUS!
Yikes, you're right. Trying to type and get out the door for the football game. Where, btw, we will salute the flag, the band (go band!) plays Amazing Grace during the "federal ban on school prayer" (cough) moment of silence, and the teams meet at mid-field for the "impromptu" (wink, wink) prayer.
Are you from Mars? Juneteenth is most assuredly not Martin Luther King Day.
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