- This land is your land, this land is my land
- From the Redwood Forest to the New York Island
- The Canadian mountain to the Gulf Stream waters
- This land is made for you and me.
- As I go walking this ribbon of highway
- I see above me this endless skyway
- And all around me the wind keeps saying:
- This land is made for you and me.
- I roam and I ramble and I follow my footsteps
- Till I come to the sands of her mineral desert
- The mist is lifting and the voice is saying:
- This land is made for you and me.
- Where the wind is blowing I go a strolling
- The wheat field waving and the dust a rolling
- The fog is lifting and the wind is saying:
- This land is made for you and me.
- Nobody living can ever stop me
- As I go walking my freedom highway
- Nobody living can make me turn back
- This land is made for you and me.
- – Woody Guthrie, This Land Is Your Land
God bless America on this Fourth of July.
No, it’s not my land, but like countless others around the world, I find a lot to admire about America.
Not that we all admire the same people. There are fans of Ronald Reagan and George W Bush and people who cherish the memory of Franklin Roosevelt; people who swear by Alan Greenspan and loyal readers of Paul Krugman. They represent different points of view but this diversity perhaps is America’s greatest strength. The media was full of stories about the divisions tearing America apart during the presidential elections last year, but despite all the differences, America is one. E pluribus unum. The motto on the Great Seal of the United States should serve as a reminder that America was meant to forge unity out of diversity.
I still recall the shock of seeing the Twin Towers collapsing on real-time television on CNN on September 11. I couldn’t believe my eyes. This happened only in movies.
Yet, look at America now. This is a nation with an amazing resilience that has pulled through a civil war, two world wars, the Great Depression, and September 11. May it continue to prosper and innovate and offer hope and freedom for generations to come.
