I marked the passing of Toby Keith several days ago on Ubi Libertas Blog. I wasn’t alone in honoring him, of course — Americans have every reason to pay their respects not only to an icon of Country music, but an unapologetic Patriot.
Music videos and recollections of favorite songs, naturally, have been part of most of those tributes. Absent from the collective outpouring (or at least I haven’t seen it) is a song released around Independence Day in 2021.
“Happy Birthday, America” wonders aloud if our country’s best days are behind her. The refrain:
Happy birthday, America
It’s the Fourth of July
I get to wake up in your freedom
But sometimes I wonder why
Seems like everybody’s pissin’
On the red, white, and blue
Happy birthday, America
Whatever’s left of you
When Keith wrote that, we were less than six months into a regime we all knew could doom the last best hope of Earth. It lamented — as did “Am I the Only One,” released by Aaron Lewis the same day — the unmaking of America.
When we remember Toby Keith, I believe that this song is worth recalling right along with his chart-topping hits. It reminds us that there’s a helluva lot more to patriotism than chanting, “USA! USA!”
Uncharacteristically for me, around 9:15am this morning I went back to sleep. I awoke 45 minutes later to an inch of snow on The Mountain, and it was still comin’ down — big flakes of wet, heavy, “snowman snow.”
Temperatures hovered in the mid-30s most of the day, so it wasn’t cold enough for powder and definitely not cold enough to keep me indoors. I bundled up and impersonated a kid who’d been gifted with a day off from school (minus the sledding and snow angels).
I trudged around smiling, noticing. Amid the beauty of white clinging to every branch and twig and needle, the weighty snowfall, four inches in all, showcased the tendency of eastern red cedars to bend but not break, or to sacrifice limbs so that the trunk survives. Ten-foot-tall saplings bowed to the ground, where they’ll stay ’til warmer temps relieve them of their burden.
The snow tapered off shortly after noon and turned to drizzle. It was near 40°F around 4pm before beginning a tumble toward mid-20s overnight. All that white stuff will be concrete by morning.
Though I no longer devote time and attention to professional football, in closing today I want to recognize Randy Gradishar on his long-overdue election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
No one who played with him or lined up against him disputes that he was one of the greatest linebackers of his era, and yet he had to wait 40 years for this honor.
I came to appreciate Randy’s talent and toughness when he played for Woody Hayes at Ohio State, where he was a two-time All-American and finished sixth in the balloting for the 1973 Heisman Trophy. By the time I enrolled at OSU myself — and pledged the same fraternity that he had, incidentally — he’d been drafted in the first round by the Denver Broncos. There he’d go on to have a stellar ten-year pro career, racking up stats that put him among the top linebackers in league history.
I’ve been cheering for my old ΔΥ brother for decades. I’m thrilled now to see him finally notch the ultimate honor — Randy Gradishar, Hall-of-Famer.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath
#LetsGoBrandon #FJB
One thought on “The Whitening”
Comments are closed.