What Makes America Already Great?

What really makes America great?

Why is America already great?

Is it the size of our military?

Is it the size of our nation? 

Is it our vast wealth? 

Is it our many freedoms?

Is it our creative ingenuity? 

Is it our standard if living? 

Is it our diversity?

Well I believe it is none of these things; it is something far less tangible but ever so powerful.

What makes America great?

America’s heart!

The American people collectively are the most generous, hospitable, giving, and fearless people on earth!

This is because America has a huge heart—she always has.  

Quite frankly this is what makes her already a great nation.

When another nation or country experiences a natural disaster America is always  one of the first to offer aid. America is always the first to send money and supplies in an effort to provide relief.

When another country is threatened by a neighboring bully America is one of  the first to come to that country’s defense, sending military aid to help beat back the aggressor.

America built a statue and named her “Liberty”. Inscribed on her pedestal are the  familiar words taken from an Emma Lazarus poem:

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

Only a nation whose heart is so wonderfully large could make such an offer to the less fortunate of this world.

But there have been those times when the American heart shrunk and we were not so generous and hospitable, but those times were the exception not the norm.

But the American heart always returns to its wonderfully great big generous fearless size!

Yes I still believe in the great big generous fearless American heart. I still am proud to say that my country, with all her flaws notwithstanding, remains one of the most generous, hospitable, and fearless nations on earth.

I believe Americans as a whole are good-hearted and compassionate people. We care for the under privileged, for the oppressed, for the less fortunate, and for those who just want an opportunity to live as free and to live well.

But fear often creeps into our hearts and it becomes that corrosive element that erodes our capacity for compassion, generosity, and hospitality. Fear has a way of shrinking that great big wonderful American heart—that heart that makes our nation already one of the greatest nations on earth. 

Today America has an opportunity to show the world that we will not live in the dark recesses of fear. We will not allow extreme radical Islamists, or anyone else for that matter, to threaten us in ways that make our hearts smaller. We will resist anyone who offers to be our savior and uses fear to paint a dark and dreadful picture of an alt reality. 

This does not mean that we become less diligent in protecting ourselves from evil threats. But it does mean that we will not allow the dark under belly of this world to control the size of our heart. 

Therefore I have faith in the American people, I always have. 

I believe in them, that they will not allow any threat, foreign or domestic, to rob us of our capacity to be one of the most generous, hospitable, and fearless nations on earth, because this is what makes us already great!