Memorial Day is a time to honor our fallen heroes and get together with family and friends for a long weekend.
I’m a strength and conditioning coach who teaches soldiers, police, and prepared citizens how to gain strength and reduce injury. It’s a privilege to serve my country by way of helping these real-life superheroes — who so selflessly dedicate their lives to protecting our nation and hometowns.
It’s also a special privilege live in this great country.
I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and, for that, I owe a debt of gratitude to my parents. You see, many people are planted in much-less-friendly soils. And, as a baby, there’s nothing you can do about it.
That’s, of course, until the day you realize that America is the place to raise a family and enjoy the opportunity that awaits anyone who isn’t allergic to hard work. And there are countless people who have risked life and limb to get here, after coming to that eureka moment.
I have some humble advice for all the naysayers and complainers out there, who are dissatisfied with the USA: Just pay your fair share of taxes and abide by the laws of the land.
In return you will get unprecedented freedom that’s truly unique in comparison to other parts of the world.
As you know, the United States of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and a federal district. The 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C. are in central North America between Canada and Mexico.
The state of Alaska is the northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. I just learned that our country also has five populated and nine unpopulated territories in the Pacific and the Caribbean.
At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million square km) in total and with around 318 million people, the United States is the third or fourth-largest country by total area and third largest by population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Thanks to the diverse geography and climate of the United States, you can live in the mountains, by the sea, or somewhere in between.
I plan to visit all 50 states with my wife and children.
As a kid, I remember driving in the car with my maternal grandfather listening to him belt out the lyrics to Katharine Lee Bates’ tune, America the Beautiful…
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion’d stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine!
O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
As you enjoy your liberty, take a moment to honor our fallen heroes who paid the ultimate price in the name of freedom and brotherhood.
