I try to keep politics out of the Got a happy story?diaries.
Driving home tonight though listening to (with one or two exceptions) the Republican representatives blatantly lie to me about THEIR resolution for immediate withdrawal and THEIR smears of Mr. Murtha made me decide to write a different happy story than I had planned.
Armando posted an open thread earlier today referencing a story about Bruce Springsteen and the joy of singing his songs.
As part of my diary, I wrote about my older brother singing as he drove the tractor mowing a hayfield.
He sang so awfully that the family, hearing him from across the field and woods, thought he had injured himself and was screaming in pain. It's a funny story. Maybe I'll post it another time.
I wasn't in the mood for a funny story after listening to the debates over the rules to discuss the Republican bill for immediate and unsafe withdrawal.
But I'm not without a happy story.
Let me ramble if you'll indulge me.
I love my country. Always have. Always will. But just as I love my brother deeply, I also recognize his flaws and problems (that go well beyond his singing). It doesn't mean I don't love him any less. That's not possible.
I'm just honest about it and I do what I can to make a difference in his life - which just like my country is pretty much very little.
But that honesty doesn't make me love him any less.
And my honesty regarding the problems facing our country and the horrific harm done by the nation does not mean I love my country any less than a Bush cultist viewing life through their red white and blue rose colored lens.
In truth, I believe it means I love the country more. Because I don't need to hold on to delusional views to love America. I don't need illusions. I don't need to turn the flag into a blindfold to avoid seeing the truth.
Listening to the shameful words of the Republicans made me terribly sad for my land.
But hearing the Democratic representatives standing up for Mr. Murtha, standing up for the soldiers, standing up for democracy made me proud.
Made me proud of the party I'm in. Just like I see the flaws in the land, I see the flaws in my party's representatives. Should this debate have occurred long ago? Of course. It didn't. I did what I could. But I don't have a time machine to change the course of history. I only got the present to live in and it keeps flowing.
So I take pride in being in the party with Mr. Murtha. I take pride in the other Democrats in Congress.
They made me happy this evening.
And that's tonight's happy story. Your happy story can be anything you wish to share.