Something struck me as refreshingly odd as we toured the National Aviation Museum earlier this week.  Under the direction of "Buck", our knowledgeable tour guide we were regaled with numerous stories from the wars of U.S. History - Eddie Rickenbacker, "Pappy Boynton and others. . .  but they all were tinged with something  - different ... something that has all but faded from our culture I'm afraid.

It was pride . . . pride in America and American exceptionalism!

It came through as he described the general treatment a prisoner of war could expect as a captive of the U.S. as opposed to the treatment American P.O.W.'s could expect in prisons of enemy nations.

You could hear it as he described how U.S. innovation gave U.S. Bombers precision that was unprecedented, when industries developed systems to allow someone in the bomb bay to take over the "stick" or control of the plane in order to center over the targets.

There was a definite "we" in his perspective . . . our pilots, our planes, we took this ... we took that ... I miss that.  It's a mentality that - I think - came into its own during the 1940's (one of the reasons I so love that era), but began diminishing when my fellow baby-boomers came along. 

It was nice to see it resurfacing so unashamedly.

Love of - and pride in - this country is not arrogant and it is definitely not racist.  God has richly blessed this glorious experiment!  Much has been accomplished because of the recognition of that God -given hunger for freedom.
And freedom has allowed this nation to flourish!