If you missed the Miss Teen USA pageant, you didn't miss much, except for the answer from Miss South Carolina when asked why she thinks a fifth of Americans don't know where the US is on a map. Her reply was that we don't have enough maps. She continued to try and make a statement about education in countries such as South Africa and Iraq. Unfortunately, she is now all over the blogosphere with the video on You Tube. Part of me empathizes with her as I don't see myself getting up on stage in front of millions of viewers to answer random questions. This young lady could very well could have great academics, and maybe even received straight A's on all of her report cards (which doesn't seem to count for much in today's studies, after all we don't have enough maps). Mayb she simply lost her words and was uncertain how to answer, hey it happens to all of us. I'm not out to badger the poor girl, I truly hope that she is confident enough with all other aspects in her life that she still holds her head high. Now, with that said, maybe she raises a good point...
Let's think for a minute how some of our other teenagers might answer this question. Right now there is a crisis in America, and I'm not just talking about the control of the House and Senate, but rather the education of our kids. For example, our elementry students, I bet that almost all of them across the world knows who Martin Luther King Jr. was, but if they are asked to tell us who the first five American Presidents were, would they know? It's unfortunate that our education system seems to pick and choose what part of history they want to teach. Not only that, but when recently talking with my husband about his speech class his book referenced speechs by Barack Obama, but didn't seem to mention anything about great speaches given by Abraham Lincoln. That to me, is obsurd.
When I heard this clip from Miss South Carolina, I went up and asked my 13 year old, "Why do you think a fifth of American's don't know where the United States is on a map?" She replied, "Because people don't care." My thought exactly. But these same people might care about Paris Hilton going to jail, or when their favorite reality show comes on. It's mind boggling to me that we've seem to have lost interest to teach our children about how America came to be. What sacrafices were made to be where we're at today. If one of our supposedly brightest teenagers, a role model for our kids, that can't conclude as reason as to why people don't know where the United States is on a map, I would hate to hear the reply of one of average students.
So for those of you who are reading this and out there that don't know where the United States is...
I'll help you out... Here's a map, can you find your country?? 
.....And here is the United States of America....where does this piece fit in the above world map? If you've found it, you now know where the US is on the map and you can discount yourself from the percentage of Amercians that couldn't find where we are on the map. Yahoo!!!
Our lives were forever changed on September 11th. A decision was made to fight those who killed over 3,000 fellow Americans. We couldn't sit by and wait for another attack. Our Commander in Cheif, President George W. Bush, in his best interest took action and now we are at war.
We along with our allies have made many sacrafices. Our men and women leave their families to go into a war zone not knowing what the outcome will be. They made the choice to serve their country with courage and honor. Lives have been lost. Not only Americans, but thousands of Iraqis. Their lives were not taken in vain, and won't be as long as we finish the job.
My husband has talked to various soldiers who have served in this war and asks them, "What is it really like over there? Is it what the media is saying". Their answer, "It is nothing like what the media reports." These men are proud of what they are doing and believe in the cause. When they say the smiles in the eyes of the Iraqi people, they know what their doing is right. When the children greet them with open arms, they are reassured. When the evil terrorists are taken down one by one, progress is being made.
Why then do we have so many protesters of this war? When was the last time protesters or democrats spoke to our heros about the accomplishments made? Yes, I understand that a minoot group of soldiers don't believe in what is being done and is angry about being away for so long. But then you have to ask yourself, what made them enroll in the military? The soldiers that are in it because they want to serve their country even if that means sacraficing their lives, they are the ones that understand why there are times when going into battle is the only resolution.
Our men in women don't want to leave until the job is done. So who are you (liberals and protesters) to tell us that we need to bring our troops home now? If you trully gave a lick, you would be behind them and allow them to do their job. Here is what our friends on the left have to say.
"I would like to apologize for referring to George W. Bush as a "deserter." What I meant to say is that George W. Bush is a deserter, an election thief, a drunk driver, a WMD liar and a functional illiterate."Michael Moore
"I mean, I think, Iraqis, I think, feel that if we drove smaller cars, maybe we wouldn’t have to kill them for their oil.”Bill Mahr - Larry King Live (November 1, 2002)
"It is preposterous for the administration to pretend that the war in Iraq has made America safer"Edward Kennedy
"We don’t know whether in the long run the Iraqi people are better off, and the most important thing is we don’t know whether we’re better off." - On the question of whether qetting rid of Saddam Hussein was a good thing.Howard Dean - Former Democratic Govenor of Vermont and Democratic Presidential Candidate in 2004 (Meet The Press 6/22/03).
"There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud," Edward Kennedy
"I'm saddened, saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war, saddened that we have to give up one life because this president couldn't create the kind of diplomatic effort that was so critical for our country."Tom Daschle- Democratic Senator South Dakota
"A nation that continues, year after year, to spend more money on defense than social programs is nearing spiritual death," Danny Glover
http://boycottliberalism.com/uninspiring.htm
"I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and — you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows — (know) this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as indicated by the extreme violence in Iraq yesterday," Harry ReidI ask again, what gives you the authority to tell us to bring the troops home? What do our military men and women have to say?
The roads are in pretty good shape and we moved at a pretty good clip?120-180 km per hour. We only slowed down a few times and when we were in the center city of some of the villages. (Where we got more "Welcome" signs and smiles. ATTENTION INTERNATIONAL PRESS: WE ARE STILL WELCOME IN IRAQ!!)http://web.archive.org/web/20041126120338/http://zangasiniraq.militarypages.com/I have continued to push on and keep focused, I have found strength here that I had long ago forgotten about: “Remember your roots Mike, you are a Marine I tell myself”, the time is here and now. I will always remember my days as the “Gunner” here in Iraq. There are few things in my life that have made me prouder than what I do today. I will hold firmly onto the memories of the times my uniform http://thegunnersworld.blogspot.com/We are setting them up to be successful if they want it. I think they do, but it will take time for the Iraqi people to get their feet firmly planted on the ground and running it themselves.http://www.military.com/blog/badgersforwardThese are just a few of the thousands of blogs out their from our men and women in the military. For those of who keep protesting to bring them home now, go get a taste of what they have to say. You can start by going to http://www.milblogging.com/. God Bless you.
