Posted on 11/03/2018 12:06:03 PM PDT by AFreeBird
KYIV, Ukraine—How do you measure America’s greatness?
By the size of its economy, or the strength of its military?
By the height of its city skylines, or the audacity of the moon landings?
Perhaps, by the heroism of the Marines who landed on Iwo Jima, or of the Army soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach?
Maybe. But America’s greatness is not always measured like in the movies or a campaign speech. Sometimes, an anonymous act of gratitude is proof enough, even if we, as Americans, don’t always see it that way.
In August, my wife, Lilya, and I were at dinner in Geyserville, California, with my younger brother, Drew, and his girlfriend, Gabrielle.
We’d been wine tasting all afternoon and had rounded off the day with a few cocktails to boot. Feeling a bit loosened up, my brother and I, as is our habit, slipped into a familiar topic of conversation—the war in Afghanistan.
You see, both Drew and I are U.S. military veterans. And, naturally, we get to talking about our wartime experiences whenever we’re together. Often a bit too loudly, as Lilya and Gabrielle gently suggested on that night in Geyserville.
....
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
Yea.. I’ll admit my screen got a little blurry... might be a technical glitch....
Very nice. Thanks for posting!
Americans are a different breed, and we are sometimes unaware until we visit other countries or foreigners visit us. I’ve had the privilege of serving on medical teams with my church in India, and the lower castes were aghast when we would kneel down and tend to foot wounds or take the first one in line, regardless of background. When traveling in Russia to adopt, our guide was shocked to learn that many Americans would love to adopt children without consideration of race, and we were shocked to hear his ongoing blatant unrestrained racist tirades. A German woman from our church told us her family was brought to tears because we sent some sympathy cards, without personally knowing the family. And I learned in a Paris airport that not all men will help a strange lady retrieve her heavy luggage, something I think we ladies take for granted here. This truly is an American quality. I had not realized it was rare until I became more well traveled.
What an inspiring article. Thank you for posting it.
We need more positive reminders in life.
He took her to a lot of places. What a magnificent trip.
Cool story. USAF enlisted Veteran here...
Without missing a beat, Lilya replied: “This is the greatest country in the world. But most Americans don’t know it.”
Yea, too many don’t understand.
><><
And it is so sad and such a shame.
I immediately thought of my next door neighbors, immigrants from the Soviet Union. They were Russian Refuseniks who finally got out in the period of Glasnost and Perestroika. The are ultra proud Americans now and their son graduated from Harvard with a full scholarship.
Thanks for posting this! I pray that God will always bless America.
My GF/SO used to live next door to a Ukrainian family. Hubby was a physicist in the old country. His wife, whom we later learned had lukemia, died several months later after they had moved in. Very sad. He was a great guy loved to grill out.
My GF moved away and we lost track of him. He did share with us his recipe for Ukrainian (Russian borscht is shit - his words) borscht. And a batch he made. Outstanding meal.
Despite the loss of his wife, he was making the most of his new country.
Didn't grow up here and have traveled the world. I certainly understand the above statement. However, you can't fix American attitudes. I've tried.
leftards are too stupid to know what 8000 illegal aliens marching thru Mexico know - that what a great country America is.
It can be a slow and sometimes painful process.
I saw a meme that said something like:
“If you’re reading this you probably didn’t win the Powerball lottery. But you did wake up in America. Which is pretty much the same thing.”
Too many Americans don’t even want to MAGA.
They’re called DemocRATS.
“I let her take my window seat when we were on final approach. I stood in the aisle and watched her.” You stood in the aisle on final approach?
Maybe part of the problems is ignoring the cesspools in our society. If we avoid the truth and tell others to do likewise, the cancer remains and will grow.
.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.