The Power and the Glory of America
by Benjamin Roberts, 2006

I know what you're thinking. 'This guy must be crazy. What power and glory of America is he talking about? Are we talking the same country, because I am embarrassed by the America I live in? I'm ashamed to even travel over the world now and tell people I'm an American.' Actually, the latter sentence is the words of a caller to a national radio talk show just a few days ago. Granted these thoughts, words, and feeling permeate the America we live in today but sometimes, for a brief instant and in the most unlikely places, we get to see bright flashes of the power and glory of this country. I saw it this past Friday morning at Career Day at my son's high school in the quiet, relaxed little town of Laurel, Maryland just outside Washington, D.C. Here I was scheduled to be one of the presenters invited to talk about my profession to his graduating group.

My day began by being roused from sleep earlier than I wished by a phone call. It was my son calling at daybreak ordering me to remember and be on time for the career day event at his school. He even told what time he thought I should be there. You would think I work for the guy. But get this. This was not the graduating senior giving me these phone instructions. No this call was from another of my boys, my youngest son, a ten year old elementary schooler. Yes, I was also scheduled to present at his and his brother's elementary school immediately after I was done at their older brother's high school. Why did I agree to this? Anyway I dragged myself out of bed and began to whip myself into shape and get a move on.

I pulled into the high school and a phalanx of students smartly dressed in their ROTC uniforms converged on my vehicle. Their faces were those of the whole world. A white young man coming to my car to find out if I was there for the presentation. A black young girl directing me to the parking lot area. A black young man showing me to my exact parking spot, and a white young man helping me to unload my presentation materials from my car and helping me take them into the school. During our walk from the car into the school I got to talk to this bright faced, well scrubbed, and sharply dressed young man with his easy and innocent smile. I asked where he was going to be attending college. He told me he was headed for the Annapolis Naval Academy. I told him that was good because he would not have to go out of state and would be close to home. He explained that he had tried for the Marines but things had not worked out, and he went on to add that his father was in the military and so was his brother, one of them in Iraq. I told him that he was coming from a strong military family, so his joining the Naval Academy would be right in line with his family tradition. He agreed with this. I told him that though I was not in the military I always had a liking for the Navy, and especially the submarine fleet. His face lit up and he said he thought he might like that area also. We talked some more and I told him about Vertical Dive, a book I had just read by a submariner Michael DiMercurio. I told him it was impressive and gave a close up of some of the unbelievable things submarines and submariners do, and told him the book would give him a good look at life in this part of the Navy. At this point we got into the school entrance hall and was greeted by a welcoming committee of smartly dressed students. These were not ROTC, but once again their faces were the faces of the world. The south Asian Indian young lady who gave me my ID badge, the black young lady who seemed to be in charge, told me where I was going, and led me to my first presentation, and the black young man who lifted my materials to take to the presentation, in the process of which a small slip of note paper fell out of his hand. All it said was 'whatever.'

I walked into the first presentation. The students straightened up right way when they saw me walk in. They enjoyed the presentation, and asked me a few questions. Then it was on to the next group. A black young lady grabbed my materials to carry to the next location. I asked if she was sure she could lift it. She said, 'Yes I can carry it. I'm a strong girl.' I smiled at this thinking this was new for me because I was not used to having a woman, and especially a young girl lift anything for me. It has always been the other way around. Call me a male chauvinist pig if you like, but that is the way I was raised. We got to the next location. Here once again, as everywhere I went in the school, I saw the faces of the world. The white teacher overseeing with thoroughness his mostly black students in the first presentation, and here the white teacher overseeing with dedication her students in this class. Here I see the white young lady in the back, the black young man who asks a question, the Hispanic young lady who is totally attentive, and the young man with the Caribbean background who asks a question and later helps with taking my materials back to my car. This done he shakes my hand and thanks me for coming to give such a good presentation to his school. Then its a dash to the elementary school, and my next presentation.

But what about the Power and the Glory of America, you ask? I saw the power and the glory of this country in those young high school kids about to step out from the shelter of school into the world of college, the military, and the corporate workforce. I saw the Power and the Glory of America in the variety of faces I saw that represent the whole world. I saw the Power and the Glory of America in the young girl who told me, 'Yes I can carry it. I'm a strong girl.' I saw the Power and the Glory of America in the intense curiosity on the faces of the students as I presented, and the questions which followed. The same curiosity which makes America the innovator of the world. I especially saw the Power and the Glory of America represented by the ROTC young man, my first interaction on arrival at the school. Here was a young man, his easygoing face bright with enthusiasm and the possibilities of life, telling me about his choice of the Naval Academy. Like all the other kids, the Power and the Glory of America seemed to illuminate him. At that instant I remember thinking that this was the real America in all its power and glory. This is in sharp contrast to the America of George Bush visiting India and being roundly booed, the America of our soldiers viciously abusing Iraqi citizens, the America of the Pentagon announcing that the use of mini nukes would not have too much of a detrimental effect on the Iranian population, the America of George Bush veiled threat of 'If you're not with us then you're against us, and the America of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld having to secretly sneak into Iraq because they are such despised Americans in that part of the world that they have to fear for their lives. Such things, to quote George Bush, 'Do not represent the America I know.' They by no means point to the Power and the Glory of America. The young men and women at Laurel High School Career Day do.