Sunday, July 04, 2010

Fourth of July Thoughts

Today in church, on the Fourth of July, a woman prayed for our president, that God would guide him. Now that's a pretty ordinary thing to do, but it really struck me this time because it reminded me that I'm doing a lousy job praying for him, and that sometimes I let my disgust at some of his policies prevent me from doing that.

But because I disagree with him doesn't mean he needs prayer any the less. Maybe he needs it more.

So I'm going to be more faithful in praying for Mr. Obama.

Speaking of the Fourth of July, I happened to be reading the "Miss Manners" column today. A reader asked how to deal with friends - visitors to the United States - who frequent his house as dinner guests and spend much of their time insulting the United States.

Pretty rude to come and stuff your mouth with your host's food and in between swallowing spend your time insulting your host's country.

Rude, but, I suspect, fairly common.

For instance, I once worked at a high-tech company and was waiting in a conference room with a few other people for a meeting to start when two Europeans we had hired started complaining about how "materialistic" Americans are.

Unlike Miss Manners, I don't put up with much of this nonsense, so I pointed out that while we Americans who worked for the company had simply taken jobs near our homes, both of them had traveled thousands of miles to take high-paying jobs in America. And they were accusing us of being materialistic?

To their credit, they both saw my point and had a laugh at themselves, and, I might add, both of them eventually became financially successful, and one became very rich.

God bless America! Just like every other country in the world, America has its faults. But despite her faults, I love her dearly.