we all have questions about ourselves
I know deep in my own DNA there has been a lifelong attraction to the sea
I know all my grandparents and great-grandparents were raised hard by the sea
I know that one grandfather spent his working life on the water
I know the sea is in my blood . . . but
visiting the actual towns where they were reared
where today’s ease and seaside charm masks the former remoteness
where they lived, played and worked without the gifts of electricity or automobiles
where the damp winter winds off the sea could knife through knitted wools
where their very survival depended upon the crops and the herds
hearing about a new land, what must they have felt
a land where your dreams were not held captive
a land where opportunity was the birthright of every citizen
a land where your father’s or grandfather’s school didn’t forever fix your status
a land where the ‘future’ beckoned
leaving their family, friends, and homestead
they traveled a sea and braved the strangeness of a new land
they dared to dream, then toiled, struggled, and stretched to reach for it
they gifted their own children with education and riches
they had not known
this strange new country
where slavery and slaves were imported from afar
where the conflict between slavery and equal opportunity was faced
where the principle of equality triumphed the ancient mindset of ownership
where the descendant of a slave could become an elegant First Lady
how strange a people we Americans are
rejecting even the very concept of royalty
allowing immigrants entry to share in our achievements
ignoring birthrights and peerages in favor of talents and efforts
rewarding achievements rather than lineage
America is far from perfect . . . but it is a place
where our children can still strive to surpass us
where we have the freedom to make even more progress against prejudice
where success, however we personally define it, is within our reach
where the dreams of a remote seaside boy and girl were fulfilled
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