Harold Keller / L’Observateur / May 30, 2000

A few years ago, a foreigner said that Americans have a lot of nerve. Wehave the baseball World Series and never invite another country.

While on the subject of baseball, with all the rules and regulations, why do we allow teams to have different size ball parks? A home run in one park might be a routine fly ball in another? Really makes as much sense as football fields being different sizes, or basketball goals having different heights.

I was amused at the following article that appeared in the April 2000 issue of the Louisiana American Legion newspaper, Louisiana Legionnaire:

Only in America “We will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election.

We yell for the government to balance the budget, then take our last dime to make a down payment on a car that will take five years to pay off.

We demand speed laws, then won’t buy a car if it can’t go over 100 miles an hour.

We know the lineup of every baseball team in the American and National Leagues, but mumble through half the words in the “Star Spangled Banner.”We spend half a day looking for vitamin pills to make us live longer, then drive 90 miles an hour to make up for the lost time.

We tie up our dog while letting our 16-year-old run wild.

We whip an enemy in battle, then give them the shirt off our backs.

We work hard on a farm, so we can move into town where we can make more money to move back to the farm.

We spend a billion dollars for education, but spend three billion dollar a year for cigarettes.

We talk about baseball, or fishing, when we are at work, when when we are at the game, or on the lake, we talk about work.

We are the most civilized nation on earth, but we still must deliver payrolls in an armored car.

We have more experts on marriage than any other country and we still have more divorces.

We have more food to eat than any other country and more diets to keep us from eating it.”

After reading that article, I realize now, more than ever, that only in America do we have the freedom to be so different.

HAROLD KELLER writes this column as part of his affiliation with the Get High on Life religious motivational group.

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