I had the good fortune to spend nearly 20 years, until 2008 in the company of citizens of various nations of the Soviet Empire.
I was there when the Hammer and Sickle came down and they were as excited as American children awaiting a visit from Santa on Christmas Eve. And on my last visit, to bury a friend in Bulgaria, that enthusiasm had not abated.
And they did it all without a roadmap. When Soviet authority departed in the early 90s they hadn’t a single star to guide them. Their churches had been buried, even the meaning of the Cross known only to their grandmothers, if they were lucky enough to have one. And their histories had been erased, so they had no heroes, except in the fairy tales that might have survived. They knew more about wood nymphs and water nixies than they did of saints.
So they charted their own course, and the sole people they looked to as a friend was the United States of America. The Germans gave them more money, the Italians better food, while the only model the Russians gave them was how to design a working model of a mafia.
Thirty years and their trek has only just begun, but more than other gift, America gave them Hope, and a living, breathing roadmap of a future as free people.
I have no firsthand idea what they might think of Donald Trump, except what I see in emails and Facebook. From Poland to the former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria they admire him as a small businessman who became rich, but still cares for the little guy. A high honor.
So, as I do every morning, I look at Twitter to see what’s happening here in America; riots in Portland, Epstein redux, Russian collusion redux, Democrats redux, a daily celebration of the things patriots hate, filled with outrage, lamentations and even hate, redux.
Maybe we should be looking to Poland and the Balkans for inspiration, for we are in dire need of a roadmap to prove we are worthy, both to the Founders who created this Nation, the men who died for it, and to the God who Authored it all.
