We Have Won the Lottery

February 15th, 2003 | sneakers

[sneakers]

This is my first vanity, hoping it's in the right place. Just something I've been thinking about lately that I wanted to share.

Recently, at a meeting - a church meeting, in fact - we were talking about the war with Iraq and how different we are from them. Some of us expressed how lucky we feel to have been born here - not the cliche' type of sentiment, but a genuine wonder that we were so lucky to have been born here.

On the way home that night, I thought that, ya know, people talk about winning the lottery. But we have already won. We who, by some fate or Providence, were chosen to have been born in this place. We have been given the tools for the greatest prosperity. We are already halfway there. The only thing that holds us back is us - we ourselves. We can take the opportunities we have been given and run with the ball. Success or failure is solely on our shoulders. How utterly amazing! Even the poor among us are rich in comparison to some other countries.

In this time when we are being attacked from both without and within, both physically and through the media, we should think about how truly wonderful and amazing it is that we should have been born here - that our grandparents chose to leave their homeland to come here, or however circumstances brought us here. We are truly the luckiest people on earth.

[Gamecock]

Well Said!

BUMP

[ActionNewsBill]

Oh, heck...I was going to ask for a couple of thousand.

Even the poor among us are rich in comparison to some other countries.

I came to this conclusion while in Thailand with the Air Force during the 70's. Living in a foreign country for a year makes one appreciate the wealth of opportunity we have here in the United States.

I am thankful also for bring born here and living in these interesting times.

[Faithfull]

I once heard a pastor speak on this same subject and it has stayed with me.He said that when we all drive into our driveways and look up at our warm homes and think to ourselves- 'wow, look what I did'- that we should think again. It is ONLY BY GOD'S GRACE that we are Americans- that we have been so greatly blessed to have warm homes, cars, etc.. and that we should stop and bow our heads in praise and gratefulness. Amen!

[GalvestonGal.com]

I'm probably the last Freeper to have seen "The Patriot" movie. I watched it last night and teared up about 10 times.

[Lokibob]

Perhaps we were lucky to be born to parents living here, but luck doesn't have anything to do with with the charactor of the people in this country.

They were and are the adventurers of the world, unafraid to face a new land, and the unknown. They were culled from the mindless sheep that accepted tyranny and poverty in their homeland. They were the peoples that knew over the horizon was a life that they could control. They were the people who looked the unknown in the eye and fearlessly faced it.

We are the products of these adventurers, and it is no wonder that the Republic continues to thrive.

[Gamecock]

I've watched it about 25 times. On about the 23rd time I wondered about some parts, which I always suspected were a little PC. I opened my copy of Dr. Walter Edgar's (Professor of History, University of South Carolina) brilliant South Carolina, A History and found that the movie is an excellant representation of the war.

I went to a lecture by Shelby Foote a few years ago. Dr. Edgar introduced Mr. Foote. When Edgar walked onto the stage he recieved a standing ovation from the 4000 attendees. Quite a tribute to a great regional historian.