God and America

I can still remember so vividly my sad days of WWII when I was a young boy, and I suffered and cried along with so many other people. We all prayed each and every day, and we asked God and America to help us in our desperate time of need. I can still envision, in my mind, all of the times during the early sunrises and the late sunsets how my Mother and I sat by our warm fireplace and begged God and America to send us some relief and help. The fresh days of W. W. II were still on my mind when I received my first Holy Communion, and on that same day when I first received the body of Jesus Christ, I also received my first one dollar bill from my Godfather, Alex. I remember the joy I felt in my heart as I said, “Thank you God, and Thank you, America.” This dollar and I became the best, inseparable friends for the next twelve years of my young, tough and impressionable life. This friend built up my hopes as I carried it with me daily in my old, torn up, empty wallet that once belonged to my father. I made sure that whenever I had it in my pocket, it stuck out and it showed just a bit. Everyone who lived in my town of Croatia “knew” my one dollar bill better than they knew me, a ten year old boy. Then, one day when I got older, this same one dollar bill served the former Yugoslavia’s Communist Army with me for two lengthy years. It always stuck its head out of my big, empty, wallet. It was the kind of a dollar which meant the world to me, and there wasn’t anything in this world that I would have traded it for. My dollar tested and evaluated minds of many people and it discovered the truth for twelve years, as it traveled with me no matter where I’d go. I can tell you America, that “little people” around the world always loved you and they still do, but I am sad to also tell you that you do not have any “big friends.”

In 1961, I carried with me my one dollar bill back to its home, to its birthplace, and to his own mother’s hands. It was then that I once again thanked God and America for all of their help. It was at this time when I first set my foot on the American soil that I knew my wishes and my dreams of so many years have been fulfilled. I was now able to “taste” the beautiful, peaceful life that America offered. At the same time, I was not longer able to live my life with my good friend, the one dollar bill I possessed and carried with me for so many years. This bill woke up my tender mind and aided me to think and learn about life. It was not easy to depart from my good friend and send my first treasured piece of good luck out there to go from hand to hand. As I slowly let go of it, I had fond flashback memories of the day, of the hour, when I had the fortune to receive it in the first place. It was an unbelievable experience for me, and I am unable to express my exact feelings of how lucky I felt at that moment. Only God, my one dollar bill, and I could relate to that special moment, but we all knew how many other people in this world were also waiting and praying to God and America to help them, as well.

On the second day of my arrival to America, and on the second day of walking on the soil of this great land, I began to think about America and the world that’s around us. I remember how I reached into my pocket very slowly, pulled out my wallet and faced my one dollar bill as I said, “Today, before the sun sets, you must go and help the world.” I put my friend back in my pocket and walked down a street where I saw a store. I walked inside and, there, I bought my first pair of something every person could use. Yes, it was underwear. I took out my friend, my one dollar bill, and before I reluctantly departed with it, I kissed it and said, “Now, go out there, from hand to hand and help build their hopes as you once helped build mine.” The dollar left my hand and I was left with an empty wallet, holding a brand new pair of underwear. However, I was left with a hope, and the same wish that the sun expresses to this nature and the world, each day as it shows its face to us.

America, you always possessed certain beauty and you still do. You were able to do what the world could not, and you must do what the world couldn’t and will not do. Not so long ago, you adopted, and the world adopted, what our nature’s health cannot; you adopted a child. Now, this world needs you. It is at our present time, and at a time which our nature faces, that I am unable to separate the American power from God and His nature’s power. No matter how I examine and look at our life, freedom health and the philosophy of life, I cannot, in any way, see how the bottom can be separated from the top. America, you need the world, and, World, you need America and its life’s drops. However, World, please try not to ever squeeze out the last drop, because its taste will be neither sour nor sweet.

I am kindly asking the world not to burry my life’s philosophy, because the soil of that grave may not want to accept it. America, you are the mother of our world. Please, make a sharp turn, as quickly as you possibly can, and no matter what can happen, and will happen, follow God and the power of His nature. You will not fail, in your attempt, to find what this nature is missing, and more importantly, the entire world will follow your footsteps. You, America, have the sole power to do what the rest of the world cannot, and will not do. Save, not only yourself, but also your child, the beautiful world.

World, as I am coming to the end of this writing, I’d like to leave you with my last wish; it is the very same wish that the sun possesses at its daily morning’s rise, “Today is for tomorrow!”

Radenko Fanuka

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