x-sender: governor.haley@sc.lmhostediq.com x-receiver: governor.haley@sc.lmhostediq.com Received: from mail pickup service by IQ12 with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Thu, 12 Feb 2015 22:54:19 -0500 thread-index: AdBHQL7BzpylmymdSu6bFx5vWcG6HA== Thread-Topic: The Beautiful -- My country -- America From: To: Subject: The Beautiful -- My country -- America Date: Thu, 12 Feb 2015 22:54:19 -0500 Message-ID: <5CF6E0E1E0FB4DBD8DDA273D5DC3F021@IQ12> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Microsoft CDO for Windows 2000 Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message Importance: normal Priority: normal X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.1.7601.17609 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 13 Feb 2015 03:54:19.0881 (UTC) FILETIME=[BED45590:01D04740] CUSTOM Mr Ramnath Subramanian 3286 Rain Dance Dr El Paso TX 79936 marianramm@yahoo.com 915-590-1233 EDUC The Beautiful -- My country -- America Ramnath Subramanian: A Valentine's Day tribute for a remarkable woman There never was a more beautiful woman. The very mention of her name conjured up a countenance that was famous as paintings, and its allure brought men and women from the far reaches of the world to her shores. When she held court, the smartest people were in the room, and it was evident that as the day turned, the confluence of genius would shape a better tomorrow. Philosophers proposed new arguments, economists unfurled revolutionary models, and scientists presented a road map for the future that was full of surprises. The poet, too, was there, singing her praise. "The Mississippi flows in her hair, full of journeys," he wrote, "and the rare jewels in her eyes set the Grand Teton to sparkle." There never was a more comforting and accommodative woman. Even when her house was crowded with people, she found room enough to welcome new arrivals. It did not matter that a man had no address to his name, or that his clothes were in tatters from the vicissitudes of life - she took him in, as though he were a most valued guest. Her cheery optimism and assured deportment suggested that she saw something in people that was hidden deep within, and which, with nudging and nurture, could blossom into the quintessence of human accomplishment. There never was a more God-centered woman. She knew innately that the monuments man builds will pierce the sky only if godly words support their foundations. She further believed that God had blessed her house in a special way, and that the land it occupied would show itself forever to be a model for settlers in all other places. God was everywhere in her house and in everything. The poet expressed this situation best: "In the faces of men and women I see God and in my own face in the glass; I find letters from God dropt in the street, and everyone is signed by God's name, and I leave them where they are, for I know that wheresoever I go others will punctually come for ever and ever." There never was a more free-thinking woman. She believed fervently that every voice should have an opportunity to be heard. It mattered not that the voice was strident or incendiary at the fringes, for as she put it, "the true voice of freedom cannot be suppressed by dissidence or dissonance." People persecuted by tyrannical governments sought her out, as did free thinkers wearing the chains of religious intolerance. They came to her with nothing more than hope, and were richly rewarded by new life experiences. "I stand here under a new sun," wrote the poet, " and am a new man. The road between conception and completion is here forever shortened, for favorable winds are always at the backs of the brave and the bold." There never was a woman more suffused with optimism and idealism. She carried in her heart an "invincible summer," and met every shadow's advance with an adamantine swath of light. In every direction where adversity hurled its hurdle, she was on her mettle to overcome the challenge and set new coordinates. The poet wrote: "As true as a brook, as lofty as a mountain, as sure as the dew on grass, and as lovely as a cloud, she is the quintessential woman." Today, my Valentine's song is for her - the beautiful - my America. Ramnath Subramanian is a retired public-school teacher. E-mail address: marianramm@yahoo.com