Something that I wrote a few years ago. There are times I have to remind myself…

by Chuck Howe

I love America with all of my heart. I always have. I love the American dream. This country is the best country in the world. I do not mean that in the Toby Keith way. I mean that we live in a country where a hippy can go from festival to festival living on ground scores and a bank CEO shakes hands and makes a million dollars, and they both know that they are lucky to be living in America.

I have spent years yelling and screaming about America. America has angered my blood pressure up to 240 over 150. What makes me so angry about America is the same thing that I love about America. People are free to be themselves and free to be happy. People are assholes. People are beautiful. People are beautiful assholes. In America you can be a beautiful asshole.

It angered me every time I would hear about someone not wanting to help their fellow Americans. We could give billions to the banks but we don’t want to pay for universal health care. It’s good to know the teller giving me money is healthy, but when I use the money, it’s to buy food from a waiter with bronchitis. We create facebook groups asking to drug test all welfare recipients. Would you take the food out of your grand daughters mouth because your son smoked some weed every now and then? We turn our backs on good people when they need it most. Would you tell your unemployed brother that he is useless and you don’t think he should get any help at all because then he would be even more useless?

It would anger me every time someone felt that another person deserved less rights than other people. A family member who I love with all of my heart was trying to tell me they didn’t like gay marriage because homosexuality is icky. I knew a girl who liked to get “raped” at unexpected times. The relationship didn’t last, I found that to be very icky. That family member would have gladly gone to our wedding with a big gift and a big smile.

It would anger me when Americans thought they were better Americans because their families have been here longer. If you want to compare family histories and the formation and protection of the new world colonies and America itself, believe me my cock is bigger. My direct ancestor opened an inn in Sudbury Mass in 1637. Family had already been in the country for 17 years. The inn welcomed many new arrivals. The inn held meetings of the Minute Men. Four Revolutionary War Officers were brothers and Howe’s. A relative helped create the American Civil Liberties Union. Whether you like them or not, they fight for Americans new and old. The point of all this is that my family fought for the very creation of this nation that would always welcome people who desperately wanted to be American. I am very proud of that family history.

I know that this country will never be the perfect Utopian paradise that I wish in my heart it would be. It’s for the best. My vision would never last. We would be left unprotected and we would be destroyed. There is a place for everyone in the country and honestly we have a lot of angry kids who want to shoot guns, might as well put them in the military. Besides there were a lot of people who did really good things in their post military lives as well. I am glad there is someone out there to defend our country but…

I have a friend who is a big dude. I’ve worked a lot of jobs with him, and he is a bull. Nothing has ever been too heavy. Nothing can’t be squeezed in. He could kick multiple asses at once if he really wanted to. The biggest ass kicking he will ever give is turn bright red and yelling at you. He once had a buddy screw him over and then attack him when he called the guy out. The guy was tiny. He swung repeatedly but he wasn’t going to cause my friend any damage physically. My friend just kind of sat on the guy, until he calmed down. Then my friend got up and left. His own house. He was angry and hurt, but he was still going to give his friend all the time needed to calm down before the guy left. Later on my buddy, with a tear in his eye said something to the effect of, “Do you know how badly I want to hit someone and I can’t. I am so afraid I would kill them.” I’m sure it wasn’t the first time that a male lamented the fact that he could kick the worlds ass, but it was the first time I saw it.

I want America to be able to kick the worlds ass. There is a safety in being able to kick the worlds ass. But we should also feel bad about even using the most restrained force against our friends and enemies. I’ve learned how thin the line between friend and enemy is. Usually all it takes is a few words. I know how easy it was to turn a friend into an enemy, it’s much harder to make an enemy a friend, but it is never too late to try and never impossible.

We are surprised that there are those in the world who want to kill us, most once considered us friends. We gave Bin Laden money to fight the Soviets. We gave Saddam money to fight Iran. We gave the Taliban money to fight Poppy production. We have been rewarding nations for fighting. Then we are surprised they want to keep fighting when the fight that we liked has ended. We suddenly stop rewarding them for fighting. They get pissed. They feel we abandoned them, or worse yet are trying to control them. There is a very fine line between big brother and schoolyard bully. We play jump rope with that line.

People come in all flavors, and we Americans love to eat. We are the melting pot. The American stew is filled with flavors and texture that you may not think work together, but as a meal it is completely delicious and good for you too. You might not like cinnamon. And yes, there is cinnamon in the pot. There are so many other flavors you only slightly notice the cinnamon. Keep eating. Eventually you’ll grow to like the cinnamon, or at least not mind it’s presence.