The American Spirit

The American Spirit

My eighth grade social studies teacher, Mr. Macki, has always been incredibly patriotic. So it doesn’t surprise me that even long after 9/11 he still speaks of patriotism and such in the exact same tone that he did on that horrific day. Some of those things that he had said made me want to cry right there in the middle of class.
The following speech is a speech that he gave a few days after the attacks. I have wanted to write it down, but I never had the chance. So, I have just kept it in the back of my mind, until now. I am currently writing this as I lay in bed at 12:40 in the morning. I have a feeling that if I don’t do this, these magnificent words will be lost forever. Now, I’m not sure that I got the exact wording right, but most of this is a direct quote.

“The American Spirit is incredibly strong. It is indestructible. You can do anything to it. You can punch it, you can spit on it, you can poop on it, you can burn it, you can drive over it with a truck, you can shoot it, you can throw it on the ground and stomp on it, you can crash a plane into it. But when the dust settles, when the smoke clears, when the clouds go away . . . There, shining bright through all of the wreckage, is the red, white, and blue.”
--Mr. Mike Macki

Right then, I knew that if you were to prick him and draw blood, that he would be “bleeding red, white, and blue”.

Thank you Mr. Macki!