The Rosetta Stone of Offenses


 I tire of the headlines.  Especially when it comes to a Rosetta Stone of offenses.  

Was it not unseemly enough to have Roseanne Barr announce she was leaving the U.S. to move to Israel; and then somehow  end up living in Texas?  How can we rid ourselves of her presence?  

Ellen DeGeneres decided to decamp from U.S. soil after Donald J Trump became our forty-seventh American President.  She declares her love for the United Kingdom:  charming villages... polite country folk... natural beauty.  Happy clap.

And now we have Robin Wright - having liberated herself from three marriages, she now declares she has liberated herself from American soil and prefers England.   America is practically "The Rocky Horror Picture Show".  Where is that roll of toilet paper, damn it?  Of course, her final liberation will be to the unknown-known - otherwise noted as an angst-filled thought  called "eternity" .  Then we will also rid ourselves of this lady.

But the headlines sputter about with somewhat the same text, written in three different scripts.  Women who are now famous-for-being-famous  believe it is of vital importance we know what they think.  But one thing I have learned over the years is that I would rather share a piece of bread with a poor wise man than to indulge the most tasty of delicacies with the richly ignorant.

I love America.  I cannot sing "Oh, Beautiful.  For Spacious Skies.  For amber waves of grain..." and make it to the words "America... America, God shed His grace on thee," without my throat constricting with emotion and my vocal cords emitting a pathetic squeak.  And at this point, the tears begin to pool within my eyes.  

America is not so much a country as it is a blessing.  Not so much a place, as an ongoing and expanding vision for liberty.  It is not a destination,  but a warm ember called "home".   And for the millions of us blessed with this liberty which beckons us to an ample hearth - America is where we will die and where are bones will find resting place within the soil.

As to the Rosetta Stone of Offenses - let each one with an offense remain caught up in the Gordian knot of their lives; with perplexity but without peace.

swoffordwrites@gmail.com

@tammyswofford1

Prior platform:  https://thelastenglishprince.wordpress.com/

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