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PatchWork |
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PatchWork |
Last Updated 09/06/05
Email: joy@our-town.com
Texas Is
Pick any kid off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of Texas in
the dirt. Ask him what that is and
he will know. There is just
something about the picture of Texas with the Panhandle and the Gulf Coast and
the Red River and the Rio Grande that brings instant recognition in every
foreigner no matter where he is.
If you’re
from Texas and travel to another country people ask questions like, “Do you
have a horse?”
“Do you have a bunch of guns?”
“Do you have a pickup?”
“How about an oil well?”
Even little kids, not born when the old Dallas show was on television
over here, all want to know if you’ve been to Southfork
or do you know J. R. The old Dallas show is still a popular rerun in most
countries.
When tourists come to Texas they demand to ride in a pickup truck.
They act like they never saw one before and sometimes they keep rolling
the windows up and down and inspecting the CD player and the big cup holders.
Texas is the Alamo and 183 men standing in a church, facing thousands of
Mexican nationals, fighting for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save
themselves but stayed. We send our
kids to schools named William B. Travis and Bowie and do you know why?
It’s because those men saw a line in the sand and they decided to never
back down. John Wayne paid to do
that movie himself.
Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Anna at San Jacinto.
Texas is Juneteenth and Texas Independence Day
Texas is tall forests like Davy Crockett National Forest.
Texas is breathtaking mountains in Big Bend.
Texas is shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.
Texas is Mexican food like nowhere in the world, even Mexico.
Texas is bigger than legends like Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Nolan Ryan,
and Ty Murray.
Texas is Universities like The University of Texas, Texas Tech, and
A&M. During WW11 more officers
graduated from A&M than from West Point and the Naval Academy combined!
Texas is a place where cities shut down for high school football games
and streets are deserted during church service.
Texas is a place where the head of every household knows how to barbecue
on a backyard grill.
Texas is beaches, deserts, lakes, rivers, mountains, and prairies.
Texas is herds of cattle and miles of crops.
Texas is skies full of doves, woods full of deer and lakes full of fish.
You fly the Stars and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland or California or
some other state and you fly your state’s flag at 17 feet.
You fly the Stars and Stripes
In front of the
schoolhouse at 20 feet, the Lone Star flies at 20 feet.
Know why? Well, I’ll tell
you why. It was part of the deal we
made when we joined the United States. Another
part of that deal was that we could, by a vote of the people, divide Texas into
5 states! But heck, no Texan would ever want to divide the state
because we place being a Texan pretty high.
Speaking of “high” the San Jacinto Monument is 5 feet taller than the
Washington Monument. The capitol
building in Austin is 310 feet, 22 feet taller than the United States capitol in
Washington.
Texans feel that everything in Texas is bigger and better.
Maybe in part that’s because Texas was an independent nation, the
Republic of Texas, when it joined the union of states.
For whatever reason, Texans are a proud bunch whether “home-grown” or
“transplanted” and we stand United with the other 49 in this fight against
those who would terrorize us. Right
now is a good time to show the world that Texans never back up.
We just stand a little taller.