Introduction
I’ve run for office before. I shared my story more times than I can count. I gave the elevator speech, the stump speech, and the keynote speech.
What they don’t tell you is when you run for office you become super sensitive to every other candidates’s story and speeches, like when you buy a silver car and suddenly, as if by magic, discover every other car in your neighborhood is silver.
I decided to be different, and run a different campaign than all the rest. So, I’m sharing my thoughts with you, not just about our community, but about me. We may already agree on the issues. You may think I would make a good representative.
If you want to know what kind of man I am, keep reading. Every Monday, I’ll tell you. If you’d rather not read, but would rather ask questions, or hear from me personally, visit my Facebook page. it lists my cell phone number and my email address. I’d love to hear from you.
The Things I’m Grateful For
- I’m an American
Every time I talk about being an American, I can hear the chorus of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.” echo in the back of my brain.
And I’m proud to be an American
Where at least I know I’m free.
And I won’t forget the men who died
Who gave that right to me.
And I gladly stand up
Next to you
And defend her still today
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt
I love this land,
God bless the U.S.A!
Tears fill my eyes when I hear our national anthem. To be honest, it’s not entirely patriotism. I tore my knee up as a Junior in high school. I was sidelined for the final game, and my coach, who always stood next to me for the pre-game anthem, jogged from the field to stand next to me. At that moment, I cried like a baby. The head coach and whole staff was fired after the game. It was the last time we ever stood together on a football field.
My grandfathers were Mexican, born in different parts of Mexico over a hundred years ago. If they’d been born twenty years later, the civil unrest in Mexico doesn’t exist, and they likely become migrant workers, not immigrants. Timing is everything.
My grandmothers were lucky. They were born in the United States. My mom’s mom, was French Mexican. I know that sounds weird, but French immigrants ruled Mexico briefly in the 19th century, and they were her ancestors. My dad’s mom was born in New Mexico, before it was new and before it was part of the United States.
It wasn’t until I watched the HBO original documentary on Warren Buffet that I tried to do the math. I was one of about 3 and a half million children born in the United States in 1979. At that time there were about 4 and a third billion people in the world and roughly 124 million newborn children. This means I had a 2.8% chance of “winning the ovarian lottery” and being a natural born American. I also had a 51% chance of being a man, giving me 1 in 69 odds of being born a man in the US.
Buffet calls it luck. In my experience, there’s no such thing. Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 tells us, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven…”
There are those who think it might be better for me to have been born in Sweden, or Denmark. I politely disagree.
There are others who point out the injustice of not having the same opportunities to succeed as a white man. Politely, they are reinforcing my gratitude. The United States of America is the only place in history designed to foster and protect our freedom. It was built to provide people a place where you, I, and the rest of us have the freedom to achieve, to live, and to fight for what’s right.
A mentor of mine, Dr. David Noebel, made the point at a seminar. People aren’t swarming to get into other countries. They are not dying in inner tubes trying to get to Cuba. They’re not caravaning through Central America for a better life in Venezuela.
They are trying to escape. They’re coming here. To the land of the free.
If I hadn’t been born in America, I wouldn’t have played football. I wouldn’t have gone to Princeton. I wouldn’t have met my wife. I wouldn’t have become a father (more on this later). I wouldn’t have the same religion (and more on this later too). In short, I wouldn’t be me.
That’s why I’m grateful to be born in the United States.
Tune in next week for #2
