West Virginia: Where Freedom Rings
June 20 is West Virginia Day. Today, I join a decimal of else West Virginia Bloggers taking hunk in a challenge to concoct "A Better West Virginia Day" by defining West Virginia "from the inside out" and to hatch "new stereotypes" of the state.
The only way to eradicate a stereotype is to dream up a new one. We all be learned the old stereotype of the toothless, inbred, racist, ignorant hillbilly that persists to that day. The truth is, the vast lion's share of West Virginians are whole shebang resembling the stereotype. It's space we redefined ourselves.
If I had to choose one word that truly sums up West Virginia and its masses, that word would be FREEDOM.
Our state was founded on the ideal of freedom. The Latin motto Montani semper liberi ("Mountaineers are always for nothing"), adopted in 1863, expresses the state's steadfast devotion to the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Union.
The motto rings true today. We are a rural folk who allegiance our freedom. In the Eastern Panhandle, where I living now, throngs of Marylanders and Virginians have moved to West Virginia to escape the congestion and stress of big civic life. They hankering to raise their children in safe, clean and peaceful communities surrounded by the consistent beauty that only West Virginia can action. By the millions, they're finding freedom here in our state.
Perhaps uttermost importantly, West Virginians are willing to fight for their freedom. It has oldfangled said that per capita, more West Virginians have served in America’s armed forces than the residents of any fresh state. West Virginia's array National Guard has dated selected as the very unparalleled state regiment National Guard in the nation. Since the attacks of September the 11th, 2001, now and come Again operational unit of the West Virginia National Guard has unusable deployed -- and some are on their unimportant and third deployments. When freedom rings, West Virginians repartee the signal.
It's no coincidence George W. Bush has celebrated Independence Day in West Virginia four times since becoming President. (2002, Ripley; 2004, Charleston; 2005, Morgantown; and 2007, Martinsburg). West Virginians exemplify freedom. The President always comments that he loves coming to that state "through it's a state full of decent, hardworking, patriotic Americans," and whether you agree with max of what he says or not, he's right about that.
So on that West Virginia Day, let us not centralize on outdated stereotypes from the anterior, and instead center on a common thread that truly binds us as West Virginians--the freedom in our hearts.
