BlueXJ
08-08-2009, 08:44 PM
When you're from Texas, people who you meet ask you
questions like, "Do you have any cows?"
It's nice to be able to say yes.
They ask you, "Do you have horses?"
Yup.
Bet you got a bunch of guns, eh?
Of course.
They all want to know if you've been to Southfork.
They watched Dallas. Have you ever looked at a map of
the world? Why sure you have. Look at Texas for me
just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle
and the Gulf Coast, and the Red River and the Rio
Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever will
be. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at
it, they know what it is. It's Texas. Pick any kid
off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of
Texas in the dirt, and he'll know what it is.What
happens if I show you a picture of any other state?
You'll get it maybe after a second, but who else
would? Even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings
in you?
In every man, woman and child on this little rock the
Good Lord put us on, there is somewhere in them a
person who wishes just once he could be a real live
Texan and get up on a horse or ride in a pickup. Did
you ever hear anyone in a restaurant go, "Wow... so
you're from Ok-la-homa. Cool. Tell me about it"?
There is some bit of Texas in everyone. Do you know
why? Because Texas is Texas.
Texas is the Alamo. Texas is 183 men standing in a
church, facing thousands of Mexican soldiers, fighting
for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save
themselves but stayed. We send our kids to schools
named William B. Travis and Bowie, and do you know
why? Because those men saw a line in the sand, and
they decided to be heroes. John
Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is Texas.
Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San
Jacinto. Texas is Texas Independence Day and
Juneteenth. Texas is huge forests of piney woods like
the Davy Crockett National Forest. Texas is
breathtaking mountains in Big Bend. Texas is shiny
skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas. Texas is oak and
cedar trees, cactus, Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush
in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Texas is world
record bass from places like Lake Fork. Texas is
Mexican food like nowhere in the world, even Mexico.
Texas is larger-than-life legends like Earl Campbell
and Nolan Ryan, Denton Cooley and Michael DeBakey,
Lyndon Johnson, George Bush, and George W. Bush,
Willie Nelson and Buddy Holly. Texas is great
companies like Dell Computer and Compaq. Texas is huge
herds of cattle and miles of crops. Texas is skies
blackened with doves and leases full of deer. Texas is
the best Bar-b-que anywhere. Texas is a place where
cities shut down for the Cowboys on Monday Night
Football and the streets are deserted during church.
Texas is beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains
and prairies.
By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S.
that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S.
flag. Think about that for a second. You fly the Stars
and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland, or California, or
Maine, and your state flag goes at 17. You fly the
Stars and Stripes in front of Pine Tree High in
Longview, Texas, at 20 feet, and the Lone Star flies
at 20 feet. Our capitol is the only one in the country
that is taller than the capitol building in D.C. We
signed those in as part of the deal when we came
on. Texas was its own country. The Republic of Texas.
Every time I think of all these things I tear up.
All of them make you proud to be a Texan.
questions like, "Do you have any cows?"
It's nice to be able to say yes.
They ask you, "Do you have horses?"
Yup.
Bet you got a bunch of guns, eh?
Of course.
They all want to know if you've been to Southfork.
They watched Dallas. Have you ever looked at a map of
the world? Why sure you have. Look at Texas for me
just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle
and the Gulf Coast, and the Red River and the Rio
Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever will
be. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at
it, they know what it is. It's Texas. Pick any kid
off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of
Texas in the dirt, and he'll know what it is.What
happens if I show you a picture of any other state?
You'll get it maybe after a second, but who else
would? Even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings
in you?
In every man, woman and child on this little rock the
Good Lord put us on, there is somewhere in them a
person who wishes just once he could be a real live
Texan and get up on a horse or ride in a pickup. Did
you ever hear anyone in a restaurant go, "Wow... so
you're from Ok-la-homa. Cool. Tell me about it"?
There is some bit of Texas in everyone. Do you know
why? Because Texas is Texas.
Texas is the Alamo. Texas is 183 men standing in a
church, facing thousands of Mexican soldiers, fighting
for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save
themselves but stayed. We send our kids to schools
named William B. Travis and Bowie, and do you know
why? Because those men saw a line in the sand, and
they decided to be heroes. John
Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is Texas.
Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San
Jacinto. Texas is Texas Independence Day and
Juneteenth. Texas is huge forests of piney woods like
the Davy Crockett National Forest. Texas is
breathtaking mountains in Big Bend. Texas is shiny
skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas. Texas is oak and
cedar trees, cactus, Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush
in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Texas is world
record bass from places like Lake Fork. Texas is
Mexican food like nowhere in the world, even Mexico.
Texas is larger-than-life legends like Earl Campbell
and Nolan Ryan, Denton Cooley and Michael DeBakey,
Lyndon Johnson, George Bush, and George W. Bush,
Willie Nelson and Buddy Holly. Texas is great
companies like Dell Computer and Compaq. Texas is huge
herds of cattle and miles of crops. Texas is skies
blackened with doves and leases full of deer. Texas is
the best Bar-b-que anywhere. Texas is a place where
cities shut down for the Cowboys on Monday Night
Football and the streets are deserted during church.
Texas is beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains
and prairies.
By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S.
that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S.
flag. Think about that for a second. You fly the Stars
and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland, or California, or
Maine, and your state flag goes at 17. You fly the
Stars and Stripes in front of Pine Tree High in
Longview, Texas, at 20 feet, and the Lone Star flies
at 20 feet. Our capitol is the only one in the country
that is taller than the capitol building in D.C. We
signed those in as part of the deal when we came
on. Texas was its own country. The Republic of Texas.
Every time I think of all these things I tear up.
All of them make you proud to be a Texan.