From Gerald Messner
Hutchinson

Yes, I am proud to be an American and I am also proud to be a veteran of the U.S. Army. I am very aware of the price that was paid for the freedom we enjoy in America today.

I am proud to be called an American. Even though my ancestors came from Germany, I do not want to be referred to as a German-American. As far as I am concerned being a citizen of America has taken away the “German” part. Please don’t get me wrong, for the most part I am kind of proud of my German ancestry (except for a few things).

So what is my point? I am glad you asked. I believe one of the reasons this country is becoming so divided is the way we refer to people of almost all nationalities. It is politically correct to call them (nationality)-American.

Let’s refer to all legal citizens of the United States as Americans; let’s drop the (name)-American regardless of color or nationality.

If people are not legal citizens of this country, then they need to become legal to live here or leave, but they should not be referred to as a (name)-American because they are not. American means they possess citizenship papers.

Good Lord! We have people in this country who are second, third, even fourth generation but are still referred to as (name)-American because of their color — what’s with that?

We don’t refer to Christians as Pentecostal-Christian, or Lutheran-Christian, or Catholic-Christian — we either are Christian or we are not.

I believe in America and in Americans. I believe this country was ordained by God to be the most powerful and godly nation in the world, but in the short 70 years I have been around, I see it slipping into something less than powerful and certainly less than godly. If, in this community we truly possess the Christianity we want people to believe we have, then we need to live by 2 Chronicles 7:14 (“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”) — then God will bless America!