United States of America – 250 Years Young
By Jeffrey Ellingson
Spring Grove, MN
On July 4th we will celebrate our country turning 250 years old. While 250 years sounds like a long time, let’s put this in perspective. My grandfather was born in 1906. He died in 1999. His life spanned nearly 40% of our country’s history! I was born in 1955. To date, I have witnessed over a fourth of our country’s history. My father, roughly 35%. My children, roughly 20%. It’s astounding how far our nation has come during our four generations, 1906 to 2026, nearly one half of our country’s history!
Comparing our nation to those in other continents, our USA is extremely young. For example, there are homes in other countries centuries older than the USA. We have gone from newborn to one of the most powerful and influential countries in the world. We live in a country where we can for the most part control our own destiny. We are free to make our own decisions and hopefully learn from our mistakes. Our only limitation is not trusting in ourselves or taking the risk to be better.
It’s been said, if you were born in the USA, you have already won the gene lottery. I am very grateful to God and my parents for being born in the USA! I’m proud of what we have accomplished in these short 250 years. Let’s all work together in directing our country towards another 250 years that our future American’s can be proud of.
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