The ActiveRain July 2026 challenge occurs as America is celebrating 250 years of independence. Our goal is to write a post that addresses and then ends with our thoughts about why we are proud to be an American.
My eyes tear up when I hear a well-sung Star-Spangled Banner. And when I place my hand over my heart as I say the Pledge of Allegiance. And every time I hear the song "Taps" performed by a bugler. And when my son recited the Soldier's Creed at his Boot Camp Graduation about a decade ago. The creed goes:
"I am an American Soldier.
I am a warrior and a member of a team.
I serve the people of the United States, and live the Army Values.
I will always place the mission first.
I will never accept defeat.
I will never quit.
I will never leave a fallen comrade.
I am disciplined, physically and mentally tough, trained and proficient in my warrior tasks and drills.
I always maintain my arms, my equipment and myself.
I am an expert and I am a professional.
I stand ready to deploy, engage, and destroy, the enemies of the United States of America in close combat.
I am a guardian of freedom and the American way of life.
I am an American Soldier."
Hearing hundreds of new soldiers say that creed in loud strong voices, oomph, that was impactful.
I am the daughter of an Air Force man, the wife of a Naval reserve lieutenant, the mother of an Army infantryman, the step-mother of a Naval reserve man and a career Army man who is still serving his country and a daughter in law who was an Army mechanic. So to say I respect and honor those who serve this nation is an understatement. They are doing, or did do, what I did not. And because of them and so many before them, this country is the amazing place that it is.
While I am one of the 85% or so of Americans who were born in the country and therefore did not have to make a decision of whether to be American or not, there is no other country I'd want to claim as mine. Why?
Because we have:
- the ability to choose whatever life we want; to work at what we want, and how we want, to make money the way we want.
- a beautiful country made up of 3.8 million square miles of mountains, lakes, rivers, plains, valleys, cities, rural towns, farmland, forests and more. If we don't like where we were born, we have the ability to move.
- freedom of speech. If we don't like something, or if we love something, we can choose to share with whomever we want and don't have to keep our thoughts to ourselves and hide our beliefs from others (unless we want to!).
- freedom of religion. Did you know that only about a quarter of nations worldwide protect religious freedoms in practice, and at least a third of all nations have severe religious persecution? Here in the USA, if you are born into a religion, you don't have to believe it or stay in it. You can make up your own mind what you believe, and you can practice whatever religion that is, or no religion at all, and you can share your beliefs openly.
- the ability to spend our money in the way we want, along with a huge amount of choices in terms of food, clothing, supplies, cars, vacation spots, and everything else.
And that's only a sampling of what makes America a great place to live. I am proud to be an American because it is a place where I was able to purchase my own home, have several productive careers, move from the East to the Northwest with no impediments, and it is a country where I can say the following words with my hand over my heart and tears in my eyes ""I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Photos were both created by Gemini AI.
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