Great Things About America (Part One)

The nations birthday is coming up soon. There have been so many things lately that have put the country on shaky ground, but America has been through tough moments before, and we will somehow pull through.

It got me thinking what are all the things that make America great. I decided on 50 reasons to equal the states in America. These are the first 25.

Baseball, volleyball, basketball and skateboarding all began in America

The mountains, the dessert, the oceans, the lakes, the rivers they are all awe inspiring

George Washington Carver was a botanist, chemist and inventor. He was an expert in peanuts and his products came mostly from peanut components. He invented; 78 different food products, dyes, inks, plastics, laundry soap, laxatives, hand lotion, and shaving cream.

Benjamin Franklin a true Renaissance man had a great curiosity about many things and here are some of the items he invented: Bifocal eyeglasses, the lightening rod, flexible urinary catheter, glass armonica, long arm reaching tool, Odometer, Swimming fins and the Franklin stove.

We all know that Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, but he also invented these other things: the Phonograph, the motion picture camera, Kinetoscope, the carbon transmitter and an alkaline storage battery.

This is something we all love. America has foods there are all its own. Cheeseburgers, Buffalo Wings, Reubens, Pecan pie, chocolate chip cookies, S’mores, Lobster roll, corn dogs, brownie, ranch dressing, Philly cheesesteak and tater tots. All of which sound delicious

The animals the United States are beautiful and special. We have black bears, white tailed deer, wolves, cougars, and bison among others.

We have so many freedoms that we take for granted in this wonderful country. We have freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, and the right to privacy.

Since the country was founded people have risked their lives to escape from oppression, and many of the people who made America home found great success and contentment in the land of the free.

We have so many jazz singers that come from this great country there is Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett and so many others too numerous to count.

This form of music began in the 1800’s in the deep south by African-Americans. The most popular artists include B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Robert Johnson, and many others.

Rock and Roll began in th 1950’s and some of the great artists that started it all include: Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, and Fats Domino among many others. That led to later artists like the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan.

Early Americans had a sense of pride of all the beauty of nature in the United States and prominent citizens urged they be protected from commercialism and development.

Yellowstone National Park was the first one that came into being in 1872. There are 62 of them. To name a few there are: The Badlands of North Dakota, Crater Lake in Oregon, the Florida Everglades, and The Grand Canyon in Arizona.

American television has so many great shows from drama to comedy, to miniseries it is hard to name them all, but a few that stand out are shows like: I Love Lucy, Dragnet, Lost, Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, and so many others that are joys to watch.

American movies span the range of 1920’s to the year at present. There have been so many unforgettable American films from all genres, comedy, drama, western. A few classics are: The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Gone with The Wind, The Godfather, Double Indemnity and so many others.

The Stature of Liberty, Independence Hall, Alcatraz, Pearl Harbor, Fort Sumter, the Alamo, Mananas National Battlefield Park, Mount Vernon, and so many more to explore. They all connect to make America so wonderful.

The program began in 1958, but one of the most exciting things to happen in that program was the day the United States became the first country to have a man walk on the moon under the Apollo program. It is moment that hasn’t been forgotten by those who witnessed it on their TV's in the year July 20, 1969. Neil Armstrong took those first steps, and Buzz Aldrin joined him, they spent 3 hours walking around doing experiments, and picking of dirt and rocks. It is amazing how far they travelled and how much bravery they had to step onto the moon when no one else had ever been there before.

The cars that have served so many people include the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Ford, Lincoln, and Tesla.

The Ford F series, Chevrolet Silverado, and the Dodge Ram

The Declaration of Independence was written mainly by Thomas Jefferson, but there was a five-man committee with John Adams and Benjamin Franklin the most famous of the group. It was written document written asserting their right to choose their own government. It rallied those in America especially when King George was sending more and more troops in America to stop America’s independence. July 4, 1776 began the path to freedom.

There are so many wonderful historical sites in the United States. Williamsburg, Virginia, Mount Rushmore, South Dakota, San Antonio, Texas, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Mackinaw, Michigan, New Orleans, Louisiana among others.

Where to begin there are so many great writers that hail from America. Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, and Raymond Chandler.

All these flowers are true beauties. There are the Begonias, Carnations, Dahlias, Daffodils, Gerba Daisy, Pansies, Petunias, and Hydrangeas.

Trees are just as beautiful as flowers and America has some great ones. Red Maple, Loblolly Pine, Sweetgum, Balsam Fir, and the Flowering Dogwood.

There are all kinds of stores to be found in this great land of ours. There are Mom and Pop stores, Home Improvement stores, clothing stores, grocery stores, restaurants, record stores, and of course, malls. There is something for everyone.

There are so many things that can be found in America. You have Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza places, Wing place, Chinese Food, Japanese food, hamburger places, and Mexican and Italian places. If you have a craving, you can find it here.

The United States is a land of diversity. The United States began with the Indians and then settlers came to the country English, French Spanish, enslaved Africans and Dutch. The next wave was Irish, German, Scottish and Scandinavian. The next group was Italians, Eastern Europeans, and the Chinese. The last wave of people to make a home in the US was Mexican, Latin American, Middle Eastern, and South East Asians. All these people have made America a special place of shared cultures.

Americans love the sports of the colleges in their towns and across the United States. There is baseball, track, basketball, tennis, golf, lacrosse, etc. People get attached to the teams because they are in their community or because they went to a specific college. Tailgating during college football is a spectacular sight to see and is sometimes more popular than the game. All these things bring people together

There are so many things that make America great, and the things mentioned are just a drop in the bucket. Never take it for granted how great things are here in the land of the free, and the home of the brave.