Photo (Cropped): Jamie Smed

Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. I can’t fathom the ingratitude of American soccer star Megan Rapinoe’s attitude toward America.

Writer Warner Todd Huston notes, “Rapinoe raised eyebrows in the 2018 season by taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem even though she is playing for the U.S. Women’s National soccer team. Her taking a knee only came to an end starting in the 2019 season because the team passed a rule requiring players to stand during the anthem. But she right away said that she would never sing the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ again, nor would she place her hand over her heart…” In doing so, Rapinoe has given Huston, this writer, and many others the impression that she hates America.

Sadly, she is by no means alone. There are millions of ungrateful Americans today.

I remember years ago seeing one of The Far Side cartoons by Gary Larson which showed one dog in his den showing another dog his mounted, stuffed trophies on his wall. There were a couple of stuffed cat heads and bird heads and also a human hand mounted on the wall. The host dog was saying to his guest, “And that’s the hand that fed me.”

What a fascinating contrast. Last week a man and his infant daughter tragically drowned trying to get to this country through illegal means. And yet the soccer star who was born here has nothing but contempt for the land of opportunity that has given her so many opportunities.

This reminds me of people who are ungrateful to the Lord, even though every beat of their heart is by His grace. When He says, “Enough,” it is over and then comes the judgment.

President Lincoln reminded us of our need for thankfulness to God when he called for a day of fasting and prayer during the conflict that tore this country apart.

On March 30, 1863, he wrote, “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven ….But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.” [Emphasis added]

Our own prosperity as a nation has caused us to forget the Lord, said our 16th president: “Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!”

With another Fourth of July recently upon us, I think it is a good time to recall why we should be grateful as Americans. This country was born through the sacrifices of those who went before us.

What is the Fourth of July? It commemorates that date in 1776 when 56 men in Philadelphia, representing three million people, agreed by voice vote to adopt the final wording of our national birth certificate, the Declaration of Independence.

They knew their lives were on the line by voting for independence from England, and a handful of them paid the ultimate price for this declaration. Several of them were specifically targeted by the British.

The document declared that the rights of man come not from the king or the state, but from the Creator. It declared that when a government interferes too much with God-given rights, the government ultimately becomes illegitimate.

This declaration came years after futile attempts to work with the king to bring about an acceptable peace. But as the “men of Boston” put it, according to the great 19th century historian, George Bancroft: “While America is still on her knees, the king aims a dagger at her heart.”

We seem to forget the sacrifices of the founding fathers who bequeathed the freedoms, and subsequently, the prosperity we enjoy in this country.

A key founding father John Adams declared: “It is the will of heaven that the two countries should be sundered forever…” America would become its own nation, separate from England.

Adams adds that if we have to endure hardship because of it, God will still help see us through: “[I]t may be the will of heaven that America shall suffer calamities still more wasting and distresses yet more dreadful. If this is to be the case, the furnace of affliction produces refinement in states as well as individuals; but I submit all my hopes and fears to an overruling Providence, in which, unfashionable as the faith may be, I firmly believe.”

The men who birthed America and declared independence laid everything on line, as they trusted in God.

Why should Megan Rapinoe be grateful? Because she was born in a country which gave her opportunity to “write her own script” as some might put it. It is hard for me to comprehend ungrateful Americans.

via Crosswalk

5 Comments to: The Era of the Ungrateful American

  1. Avatar

    Carol S Roth

    July 23rd, 2019

    I agree with the conclusion you have written so well. I pray many will read it and remember to be to be thankful. America is and was founded by great men who great principles. Our Documents are like no other. Who could not be thankful. God is greater than all of these and He is the Creator of the Universe. We all are indebted to Him. We should all be thankful. Thank you for writing the article and reminding us of its importance.

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    Dagmar Snodgrass

    July 24th, 2019

    I came from Berlin Germany in 1954 and became an American citizen in 1958 in Wichita Kansas.There were 68 of us that swore the allegiance to the flag. I have been in this land a life time.I came across as a war bride.And coming out of what I left behind I thought I came out of Hell and went to Heaven. Three children do I have.My only son died in 2012. Two were born in Berlin Germany. I studied long hours to become a citizen, while my husband served in Korea. I was proud to make it.The test given was tough and so it should be when one wants to belong. On the 14th of February 1958 I said I do, and so did the United States of America when this country recognized me and became my forever home land.It is a shame when born Americans can not see how wonderful they have it . And how grateful they should be for the freedom they enjoy in this land. We all have a right to our own opinions and to express them. How ever how we express them for the world to see and to talk about this is something else.Many died to give us what we have and want to continue to have. Maybe this Soccer player should go elsewhere and find out what it is like to walk in someone else’s shoes for a while. Maybe then she would see how well of she is, to be born and raised in the USA. Shame on her to be so ignorant about how well she has it money wise and other wise……… I am sad to read how she behaves, and this in front of the whole Nation and the world that keeps an eye on this Nation.Anyway this is written by one proud American who goes to Schools, Churches and Clubs as well as to the Pittsburg State University in Kansas around veterans day. I go there when I am invited to speak there. I attend Mrs Debbie Restivos room on this 12th of November at PSU to tell my story of survival .And that I am a grateful Citizen of the USA. I am 85 years old and grateful for my transplant out of German soil into American soil.I am not taking anything away from my homeland and birth town by making this statement. I have a love for my birth country and town.But I became an american citizen when I married an American soldier after world war 2.And he brought me and our children home to his family in Caney Kansas.There and from them I learned what freedom is all about . May The Lord continue to bless the USA and take care of the Brave that fight for this wonderful land.Dagmar,Weiss, Monk,Snodgrass.

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      Beth Carico

      July 25th, 2019

      What a beautiful testimony of Dagmar’s of love of a chosen country—the USA. Bless you, Dagmar!

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      Javier Gomez

      August 5th, 2019

      Thank you, Dagmar, for your strong testimony of your life journey and your love for America. I’m 62 years old now, was born and raised in Texas, and have lived almost my entire life (except for a 4 year hitch in the Army which included 2 years in Augsburg, Germany) in the US. I have an unwavering love for our country and our flag and I’m proud to call you a fellow citizen.

      Thank you, Desmond, for a well written and well thought-out article on patriotism. I’m grateful for voices like yours in the national discussion.

      Reply
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    Darcy

    August 17th, 2019

    I’ve always thought that if you were born and raised in a developed country, especially the USA, you essentially have one the lottery. Still so many places on this planet that one has to struggle to survive, let alone be free and able to choose own life’s decision. Then you see stuff like this and it makes you feel sick.

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