A Time to be Proud

As most of you who follow my blog know, I never discuss politics.  However, today is an exception.  Wait, wait, don’t stop reading!  I am not about to go on a political rant—far from it.  I just want to make a few observations about the country I love.

Yesterday, we witnessed, for the 45th time, the peaceful exchange of power from one adminstration to the next.  Regardless of who your preferred candidate was during the election cycle (I don’t know, and I don’t care), it was a beautiful thing to watch as our new President took the oath of office.  As one patriotic song after another was played, the pride I felt for my country was impossible to contain.  Seeing our refurbished Capitol building glistening in the sun, the Washington Monument standing tall in front of the Reflecting Pool, the Lincoln Memorial overseeing it all, it was hard not to think of all the great men who conceived and executed the plan for our way of government so many years ago.

There is something special about America.  It’s not just the boundless countryside that stretches for 3,000 miles from coast to coast, with every conceivable type of geographical configuration there for us to explore (who needs to leave our shores?). It’s also our history, brief as it might be in comparison to other nations around the world, that is unique.  Ours is a rich, diverse history composed of the lifeblood of people from all different societies and cultures, melded as one to make us who we are.

Say what you will, but there was something special last evening, as our new President, his Vice President, and their families went from one Inaugural ball to another, dancing with members of our Armed Forces, law enforcement personnel, and first responders.  I don’t know if that has ever been done before (I can’t recall it), but it was remarkable.  There’s a sense of renewal in the air.  It’s nothing new, of course; it happens every time we change governance, regardless of which party assumes power.  But it’s palpable and, at least for me, it fills one with a sense of optimism.

We are lucky to be Americans, and to be free to choose who we want to be our leaders. Let’s never lose sight of that fact.  God bless the United States of America, the greatest country on the face of the earth.

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NOTE: My latest Matt Davis mystery, Deadly Ransom, is finished. Beginning Monday, January 23rd, you’ll be able to pre-order it in Kindle and Nook editions.  The publication date is March 1st, when the print edition will also become available.  When you pre-order, the book will magically (it seems like magic to me) on your device on March 1st, or the next time you boot it up, from that day on.  I hope you will think about pre-ordering Deadly Ransom for one very important reason: by pre-ordering it now, it will ensure that when it is actually published on March 1st, it will already have a decent ranking, which just may help to propel it to “best seller” status.  Please spread the word. I certainly appreciate it.  Thanks!

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