GOD BLESS TEXAS

[Mike]

Have you ever looked at a map of the world?

Look at Texas 

with 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

might get it maybe after a second or two, but who

else would? And even if you do, does it ever stir

any feelings in you?

In every man, woman and child on this planet, there

is a person who wishes just once he could be a

real live Texan and get up on a horse or ride off

in a pickup. There is a little bit of Texas in

everyone.

Texas is the Alamo. Texas is 183 men standing in a

church, facing thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting

for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and

save themselves, but stayed instead to fight and

die for the cause of freedom.

We send our kids to schools named William B. Travis and

James Bowie and Davy Crockett, and do you know why?

Because those men saw a line in the sand and they decided

to cross it and be heroes.

John Wayne paid to do the movie The Alamo himself.

That is the Spirit of Texas.

Texas is Sam Houston capturing Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana at

San Jacinto.

Texas has huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett

and Sam Houston National Forests.

Texas is breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend .

Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country. 

Texas is floating the rivers of the Hill Country on a hot summer day. 

Texas is the beautiful, warm beaches of the Gulf Coast of South Texas . 

Texas is beaches you can drive on and have many memorable bonfires with close friends. 

Texas is that warm feeling you get when someone asks where you're from. 

Texas is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.

Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork . 

Texas is Mexican foods like nowhere else, not even Mexico .

Texas is chicken fried steak and world famous Bar-B-Q.

Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, the Mort Myerson in Dallas, The Ballpark in Arlington, the Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, the American Airlines Center in Dallas, and the Astrodome (the Reliant Stadium now) in Houston.

Texas is larger-than-life legends like Michael DeBakey,

Ann Richards, Denton Cooley, Willie Nelson, Buddy

Holly, Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, Tommy Lee Jones,

Waylon Jennings, Farrah Fawcett, Janis Joplin,

Sandra Bullock, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Landry,

Eva Longoria Parker, Darrell Royal, ZZ Top, Roger Staubach

Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn,

Howard Hughes, George H. W. Bush, Lyndon B.Johnson,

George W . Bush, and let's not forget GEORGE STRAIT,

the Big Bopper, Tex Ritter, George Jones,

Clay Walker, Mark Chestnut, and Tracy Byrd to name

ONLY a few.

Texas has great companies like Valero,

Dell Computer, Texas Instruments, EDS and Compaq,

Whataburger, Southwest Airlines, Bell Helicopter, and

LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSPACE, 

Home of the F-16Jet Fighter and the SF Fighter.

And Texas is NASA.

Texas is huge herds of cattle, beautiful horses and miles of crops.

Texas is home to the world famous King Ranch.

Texas is home to the most amazing sunsets of gold over an empty field.

Texas is skies blackened with doves and fields full of deer.

Texas is a place where towns and cities shut down to watch the

local high school football game on Friday nights

and for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football at

the new Cowboy Stadium, and for the Night

In Old San Antonio River Parade in

San Antonio.

To drive

across Texas is to drive 1/3 the way across the

United States.

Texas has ocean beaches,

deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and prairies,

and modern cities.

If it isn't already in Texas, we probably don't need it. 

No one does anything bigger or better

than it's done in Texas. 

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 , California ,

or Maine , and your state flag, whatever it is,

goes at 17 feet. You fly the Stars and Stripes in

front of Klein Oak High or anyplace else at 20

feet, the Lone Star flies at the same height - 20

feet. You know why? Because its the only state

that was a Republic before it became a state.

Also,

being a Texan is as high as being an American

down here. Our capitol is the only one in the

country that is taller than the capitol building in

Washington, DC. And we can divide our state into

five states at any time if we wanted to! 

We can become a republic again at any time the voters of

Texas choose, and we included these things as

part of the deal when we came on.

That's the best part, right there.

Texas even has its own power grid!! 

And don't even lie to yourself. 

Did I mention the LIVE music capitol of the world? 

If you are a REAL TEXAN, you won't

even need to be told to pass this on..!

GOD BLESS TEXAS