the smile on your face
lets me know … this IS the best
country in the world
Yes, I ripped off Alison Krauss and the lyrics to her song, The Smile on Your Face.
See, I was watching the NBC Nightly News last night and their report from the Texas/Mexico border.
The reporter was interviewing a family from Venezuela.
A young man with his wife and two little daughters.
A group you would see in Walmart or McDonalds or at the beach and never notice.
Just a family.
They had made across the border into the United States.
How they got to the border from Venezuela is left to the imagination but I bet the story with make any Indiana Jones type narrative seem pretty tame.
But they had made it across.
The family had made it through the border security.
The family had made it through US Immigration screening.
They had a court date to plead their case for asylum.
Their court date was for an appearance in Federal Court in New York City.
The father explained they had no where to live.
The father explained they had no way to get to New York City from the border.
The father explained they had no money left, what they had was spent getting to the border.
The reporter then asked, simply, “Was it worth it?”
The father smiled.
I don’t mean the half grin, half reluctant, somewhat questioning, shrug smile that said, boy oh boy I don’t know, if I had only known, but what they heck, here we are, kind of smile.
But a ‘Hey! I just won the lottery’ kind of smile.
But a “Hey! Michigan just beat Ohio State’ kind of smile.
From the heart.
Without hesitation.
No coaching.
Without thinking.
Without planning.
A smile on his face, that for me, let me know that throughout the rest of the world, this IS the best place on earth.
No matter what the politicians do to it.
No matter what the interest groups do to it.
No matter we what do to ourselves.
As Mr. Lincoln put it:
“… we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve.
We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.
Other means may succeed; this could not fail.
The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just
… a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.“*
Read this out loud.
We assure freedom to the free.
The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just.
A way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless.
I hope it made you think about the border.
It should make us proud.
It makes us all free.
That should be something to smile about.
*Concluding Remarks Annual Message to Congress — December 1, 1862 — Washington, D.C.
No Haiku For You 