Celebrating the Fifth of May in the USA

May 5, 2013
Colorado USA

Dissident Daughter shares a story.

Out of the busy-body blue I hear a question…

Actually, it is more like out of the mouth of ignorance…

Busy Body: You’re a Texan – do you celebrate Cinco de Mayo? (pronounced: Cinco like sicko, de like be, Mayo like the salad dressing – oh me)

Now if this near stranger knew me better, they would know this is the last question anyone who knows me well would ask me. Anyone who knows me well enough to call me by my first name would already know the answer.

So, reining in the cranky side of my nature, I answered…

Lil' Ol' American Me: I am a Texan, not a Mexican. You do realize that Cinco de Mayo is not a Texan or American holiday?

Busy Body: Oh. I thought it was an Independence Day for them in Texas.

Lil' Ol' American Me: No, it is not an Independence Day for them. Why would we celebrate a Mexican Independence Day in the USA or Texas?

Silence…

Lil' Ol' American Me: Sigh! It marks a battle Mexico won over the French in the 1860s that has evolved into a Mexican heritage celebration.

Busy Body: I see...

Lil' Ol' American Me: Thinking to myself - I seriously doubt it.

History lesson over - I left it at that.

I celebrate the 5th of May in the USA much like I do any other day I am fortunate enough to wake up in this country and appreciate what it means to be American and free. OK, well maybe I celebrate it by wearing a blatantly American t-shirt and if we find ourselves out on the Harley by flying the American flag in tandem.

I don’t have a problem with ethnic celebrations but I do find it offensive:

• if the flag of another country is not flown in tandem and in the proper position below the flag of the United States…
• if the national anthem of another country is not sung after the Star Spangled Banner…
• if the pledge of allegiance is not said to Ol’ Glory and only Ol’ Glory…
• if you do not respect the country whose ground you stand upon…
• if you do not respect the rest of the population’s right not to give a hoot what you are celebrating…

Anything less than that amount of respect and consideration, then you are not an American – you are a poser. And that’s the long and short of the matter.

Party on, I say! But! If you want respect for your ethnicity, then I need respect for my ethnicity. Your right to dance in the street under another country’s banner is granted only by the law of this land and the tolerance of its citizenry.

Celebrating ethnicity is not free license to disrespect the law of the land or the vast majority of other ethnicities who are also citizens. My Grandmother, born in the great state of Arkansas lived to be 101 years old. She was of Irish and Scottish descent, but if you asked her about her ethnic background – she would (after she skewed you with a look that indicated what an utterly stupid question you asked) answer: AMERICAN. That answer, works for me. I am of American ethnicity.

It does not matter what the nod and wink politicians say while they pander for your vote – because their Americanism can be called into question on a daily if not hourly basis. Most politicians and heads of state do not understand that being a citizen of the United States of America has nothing to do with government or politics. Americanism is a state of being, a particularly hard-ass mentality that courageous men and women have bled for in the past and defend today. You either get that or you don't.

If you would be an American then BE ALL AMERICAN and learn to respect what that really means.

There can be no fifty-fifty Americanism in this country. There is room here for only 100% Americanism, only for those who are Americans and nothing else. Theodore Roosevelt

If you are rolling today in the USA - I hope you doing it loud and proud and with the proper American accessories - I know you are - carry on.