~Mary Oliver - A Summer Day

how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass

Because we are America and that comes with a heavy burden, the choices we make define not just our future, but the future of the world.

Time and again, America has been at its best when we stood up for others—not for profit, not for power, but because it was right.

We as a nation have been blessed by God in uncountable ways. How are we now blessing others? How will we rise to meet this moment? How will we choose to lead?

We are the country of the Berlin Airlift, keeping hope alive in a city surrounded by darkness.

We are the country that stood before the Iron Curtain and demanded, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

We are the country that liberated Kuwait, proving that aggression would not stand.

We are the country that liberated Europe and the Pacific, asking only for enough ground to bury our fallen.

We are the country of the Marshall Plan, not demanding reparations, but rebuilding in the spirit of generosity.

We did not ask for this power, nor did we ask for this responsibility. But God has placed it in our hands. And so we must ask ourselves: What kind of nation will we choose to be?

We are the country that declared, “Lafayette, we are here,” when our oldest ally had their backs against the wall.

Choices to use our diplomatic strength to forge a better world—or to seek only our own advantage.

Yes, we have power and with power comes choices. As Uncle Ben once said, "With great power comes great responsibility."

Choices to lift up the weak or demand protection money when they have their backs against the wall.

Choices to stand against the oppressor or stand idly by because we have not yet felt the sting of their aggression.