Welcome back (or for the first time) to Common Sense Civics and Citizenship! Always glad to be a part of your day. Have you noticed? Americans are stepping up and taking action. I not only hear about it, I am actively looking for fellow citizens who are standing up for American principles in their communities each day.
One of our stories this week tells about a neighborhood stepping up to solve a blight problem. We also examine four current news events where I asked my Common Sense Civics and Citizenship Facebook page participants to help me sort out what in the world is going on. Indeed, they did. Conversation can be a real asset in times like these.
One more thing… June 14 is Flag Day. Fly Old Glory proudly!
Thanks for taking a moment to join us. Let’s begin.
Here are four recent news stories:
In the Tokyo Olympics this summer, Hawaii will compete under the American flag. This is a big issue because surfing is synonymous with Hawaii. Surfing was born there. They are proud of this fact. When the Hawaiian team competes, they do so under the Hawaiian flag. You either compete under the USA flag or the Hawaiian flag, but never both. It’s a deep-roots issue. In fact, some native Hawaiians consider the U.S. to be— are you ready for it? Colonizers.
“Move Oregon’s Border for a Greater Idaho” is a grassroots group made up of rural eastern and southern Oregon plus some northern California counties. This group wants state borders to be moved so that a new state, Greater Idaho, will be created. Efforts for states to secede have never been successful. However, this group is gathering support in the hopes of simply moving the borders. They want to belong to a state that falls more in line with their beliefs of governance and self-determination.
Story #3 is about a prominent media personality who saw “dozens of American flags” and found it to be—are you ready for it? “Just disturbing.”
A few years ago, I took pictures of a mega-sized American flag that was causing a bit of “noise” in my city. The participants on this page overwhelmingly responded with, “the bigger the flag, the better!” Needless to say, I find it disturbing that many Americans displaying their flags would actually bother someone. Perhaps the person mentioned above needs a Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial trip to “get it.”
Couple the above stories with ones about people from all over the world who are desperate to get into the United States. Many die from dehydration or drowning. The story that caused me to write this article was about a pregnant Haitian mother carrying full-term twins. All three drowned trying to get into the U.S. Ponder that for a moment; a treacherous journey while carrying full-term twins.
Is it just that people are at unrest?
Is it that they want more?
Is it that they want it all for free?
Or want others to care for them?
Or that they want to be left alone?
Or believe a fantasy that doesn’t exist?
Do they want to determine their own borders? Or have no borders?
What about the Hawaiian surfing story? Are these people old enough to remember when Hawaii was a sitting duck island for the Japanese? The United States entered WWII after the Pearl Harbor attack and later adopted the island, making it our country’s 50th state in 1959.
Could it be that we are deeply misled about life, maturity, good, and evil? Maybe I’m asking the wrong questions.
But, asking questions is Common Sense Civics and Citizenship.🇺🇸