Un-American Sentiments? Not Hardly

     I have a bone to pick with the greater social networking world. All these kids on there (and by kids I mean you persons who don't have a drivers license, much less a diploma of any sort) see these posts and think 'Hey, that's funny, cool, whatever, I'm going to repost that.' Problem is, a lot of the time, they really have no idea what kind of a shallow image they're sending out about themselves and the world they live in.

     Case in point: I was reading back through some old posts I had missed while I was in Key West. That happened to be Fourth of July week, and many of the posts were patriotic, song lyrics, support-the-troops, etc. Until I came upon this one post, saying 'If you aren't listening to Katy Perry's 'Firework' or Miley Cyrus' 'Party in the USA' today, you don't deserve to live in America!'. Whooooo, that set me off BIG time.

     First, I'm sorry, but I deserve to live in America because I vote; I pay taxes; I have sent boxes to friends serving overseas in the military; I actually know the words to the Pledge, the Star Spangled Banner, and can name all 50 states and their capitals...I could go on.

     Second, my musical preference does NOT make or break me as an American. That's what it means to be American. You can listen to whatever you like, whatever day you like. I can listen to Jingle Bells in May, or The Star Spangled Banner on Halloween. It doesn't mean I'm any less of anything. And personally, I just don't like those two songs!
 
      I'm not a fan of most 'popular' music these days. I think it's just tacky, for the most part. The artists don't even try to actually have talent or even sing half the time, and the actual songs get worse and worse. (Rebecca Black's Friday, anyone?) Someone actually tweeted the other day about Justin Bieber being 'such an accomplished musician', they didn't see how he couldn't get the following of everyone on the planet. I'm sitting there thinking, 'The kid hasn't even accomplished puberty yet! Accomplished musician?!' I'm a music purist, I know, but Justin Bieber lacks a LOT to being considered accomplished in just about any circle.

     For those of you out there who are with the crowd thinking I'm now un-American because of my musical preferences, here's a taste of my America for you.

Fireworks and homemade ice cream, every Fourth of July

Kids playing in the sprinkler 

Lab puppies :)

Tomato soup, black eyed peas, fried okra. All grown in the garden and put up, every year. No, I've never eaten any of these foods bought at Wal-Mart. Yes, I plan to keep it that way.

T-ball with every kid in the community, and afterward begging our parents to let us buy the junk food the old concession stand sold. It tasted soooo good!

Walking down the road, picking Black-Eyed Susans

This is one of my favorite parts of where I live, and how I got to grow up. Watching all year as the farmers plow and plant their fields, watch the crops grow, watch as they drive their tractors up and down the fields. Driving to the fields in the ton truck or on the tractor with Granddaddy and Grandmama, drinking ice cold water from their cooler, letting the soybeans run over your toes and playing in the loose rough cotton, washing the mud off my feet at the water hydrant by the shop.