We are America

We are an eagle with spread wings

One wing represents our freedom and one represents our diversity

But those are simply two things that make us “unique”…

They vaguely communicate who we are as a people

For we… are America

{beat}

We are America

We are children of the American Revolution, the roaring twenties, the Iraq War

We are the remains of those who fought for us,

{beat}

those whose bones we walk upon when walking our children to school

We are the whispers of Mark Twain, the lyrics of Billie Holiday, the forever children of Walt Disney.

{beat}

We are the slave songs of the old south

Broken and beaten down but just as beautiful as everyone else

Just as valid as the white man, the Asian woman, the Portuguese child

We have their suffering written in our hearts,

but not everyone is as good at reading as others

{beat}

We are the children of the industrial revolution, choking on our spit

Struggling to feed our families.

Unaware of what it means to truly be a child

{beat}

We are the women of the women’s march and those marching for life

We are the partygoers of Jay Gatsby and the music of A Streetcar Named Desire… slowly building until we crash.

Somewhere in our history we have lost our way

{beat}

Somewhere along the way we became so obsessed with our differences that we forgot our similarities

{beat}

We lost sight of what we hold true

{beat}

Words in speeches became meaningless and all of the sudden no one knew just what they were trying to do

only that they needed to get there… by any means necessary.

{beat}

We forgot what our leaders were trying so desperately to tell us.

We neglected to heed their warnings.

{beat}

We allowed ourselves to dig deeper and deeper thinking we were going to find diamonds but all we found was coal

{beat}

Our worth became reflected by a number and we no longer felt human

We wondered if our government remembered we were human

{beat}

We have become so divided in our purpose

So willing to cast aside feelings

So willing to cast aside another life…

{beat}

But we have ridden through the valley of death…

We have never been afraid to fly

We have always done what needs to be done to “get by”

We have exchanged a million first and final goodbyes

We have never been afraid to question “why?”

We have watched our children cry

We have seen our soldiers die

We have witnessed our country survive