The blending of the red, white, and blue

"Our Founders envisioned a country which was a true melting pot. A country made up of many, to become one."

We have gone crazy on colors these days. Colors meaning different things. Some colors are good for some people, and bad for others. Other colors are bad for some people, and good for others. It is enough to drive most of us crazy. HOWEVER - that being said, this weekend is (or at least should be), all about the red, white and blue. Old Glory and what it stands for. What it has stood for, what it stands for now, and hopefully, what it will stand for many years to come.

As of late, we have also had different colors stand for different movements or causes. Black Lives Matter, Blue Lives Matter, Brown Lives Matter - soon there might be a White Lives Matter. I have a great idea. And it is hatched on Independence Day weekend. How about, American Lives Matter. In other words, it does not matter what pigmentation your skin is, what should matter is the color of the blood flowing through your veins. That color should really be a tri-color. It should be red, white, and blue.

Until we quite fixating on the pigmentation of someone's skin, until we quite hyphenating our nationality, until we quite becoming over-concerned about the origin of someone's heritage, our melting pot will remain tribal. Our Founders envisioned a country which was a true melting pot. A country made up of many, to become one.

I have told this tale before. I did some business in the UK during my working days. Our UK partner was located in Nottingham (no kidding), England. Besides our partner's plant being located there, Nottingham had a huge lace industry. As such, there were many times the women who lived there than men. I had never seen so many women in one town.

One day, when coming out of a pub after lunch, one young lady came up to me. "You are an American, aren't you" she said. I had not been talking, so I asked her how she knew. "Oh, I can pick out an American a mile away. You all look so blended." 

I will always remember that exchange. Blended. What a superb term to define who we are. We could still use the Latin term E pluribus unum, but that was so yesterday. Accurate, but yesterday. Or we could use the American English translation of that Latin, "out of many, one". Or - we could use the term the English lady had for us - blended. We were all  just Americans - no more, no less. It really is that simple.

On this Independence Day, I will think about us, the blended Americans. How it all started with a bunch of very brave men, who pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to each other. They made this pledge in a brazen attempt to free thirteen colonies from England's rule.

It easily could have gone wrong, for so many reasons. If it had, independence from England would have failed, and many or our finest patriots, would have hung. But it didn't go wrong. It was hard, almost impossibly hard, but the colonies beat the British, and then declared themselves to be the United States of America. 

May God bless this great country. And may this great country never forget that it is God who blesses us. Have a wonderful Independence Day folks. Our patriots from years gone by, would have wanted nothing better for us.