America Is 250 Years Old… Let’s Not Forget Why People Came Here

[00:00:01]All right, people.

[00:00:04]America turns 250 years old this year.

[00:00:09]My name is Papa Sammy.

[00:00:12]I'm 84 years old, which means I have lived through the more than 1/3 of American's history.

[00:00:19]I wasn't here in 1776, although my grandson thinks I was.

[00:00:25]But I've watched it grow and change and move forward for a very long time.

[00:00:30]When America was born, there were only 2 and 1/2 million people here.

[00:00:36]Just 13 colonies.

[00:00:38]The roads were dirt. People traveled by horse and wagon or they walked.

[00:00:44]There was no electricity, no running water, no phones.

[00:00:49]A lot of people never traveled more from the They stayed where they were born, within just a few miles radius. That happened regularly.

[00:00:59]Life was hard. People depended on one another.

[00:01:04]America started with an idea. An idea that the people could govern their self.

[00:01:10]All right, here we are 250 years later.

[00:01:14]There's 330 million people in this country.

[00:01:18]We have 50 states.

[00:01:20]We can travel across the country in hours instead of months.

[00:01:25]We talk to each other instantly, no matter how far apart we are.

[00:01:29]What once took weeks now takes seconds.

[00:01:33]Money and everyday life have changed a lot, too.

[00:01:38]In early America, things were made by hand.

[00:01:41]Food was grown at home. Clothes were sewn. Tools were built to last.

[00:01:45]People didn't mind much. They had what they needed.

[00:01:51]Today, things cost more, but we also live different.

[00:01:55]We replace things instead of repairing them.

[00:01:57]Life is easier now in many ways, but not always simpler.

[00:02:03]How we get around has changed more than anything in 1776 could have imagined.

[00:02:10]And I just 250 years, we've had people walking on the moon.

[00:02:16]And think about that. That amazes me.

[00:02:19]Family life has changed, too.

[00:02:22]Back then, families were large.

[00:02:24]Everybody worked together.

[00:02:26]Well, I worked I I grew up working with the family.

[00:02:29]We grew up fast, and we learned responsibility.

[00:02:33]Animals had jobs. Dogs dug. Cats caught mice.

[00:02:37]Today, families are smaller, and pets are part of the family.

[00:02:41]They were working animals back in the day. Now, they're play toys.

[00:02:45]Life is comfortable, but more than somehow less connected.

[00:02:50]I was born before television was common, before computers, before the internet.

[00:02:56]Before cell phones, believe it or not.

[00:02:59]I have lived long enough to watch the world change so fast it makes you dizzy.

[00:03:04]I've seen things people thought that was impossible become normal.

[00:03:10]America isn't perfect, people. She never has been.

[00:03:14]But I got to tell you, people flock here looking for a better life. This is where common sense comes in.

[00:03:23]They flock here looking for a better life. They're here 2 days, and they want to change America like where they came from.

[00:03:33]If they want to change back to where they came from, Sharia law, whatever, go back home.

[00:03:40]So, why come somewhere else and try to change it to fit you, and overlook the people who's been there for generations?

[00:03:48]It just don't make sense.

[00:03:50]Uh but we're not perfect. We never have been, never will be more likely.

[00:03:55]But, we kept going forward.

[00:03:57]We have subscribed survived wars, hardships, and change, and we're still here, people.

[00:04:05]We're still here.

[00:04:08]I'm proud to be an American. I love my country.

[00:04:11]I'm glad of of the life I had I helped to build here. I was able to build.

[00:04:16]I came from an uneducated family, sharecroppers, in the field, barefooted, working like a dog to where I'm at now in 84 years.

[00:04:28]Okay?

[00:04:30]I didn't get any help from the government.

[00:04:34]I did it on my own.

[00:04:37]In America, if you shut up and go to work, you can make money. Go to work and cry and moan and talk about your rights, you're not going anywhere, people.

[00:04:47]Cuz the only rights you got is not imposing on somebody else's rights.

[00:04:52]All right.

[00:04:53]I hope the next generation has a little sense to take care of this country.

[00:04:57]This country.

[00:04:58]So, from Pop All Sammy, happy birthday, America.

[00:05:02]I hope the next 250 years is so much better.

[00:05:06]God bless America.