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When
you're from Texas, people that you meet ask you questions
like, Do you have any cows? Do you
have horses? Bet you got a bunch of
guns, huh? They all want to know if
you've been to Southfork. They watched
Dallas.
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'll get it maybe after a
second, 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
little rock the Good Lord put
us on, there is a person who wishes
just once he could be a real live
Texan and get up on a horse or ride
in a pickup. There is some bit of
Texas
in everyone. Do you know why?
Because there's no place like
Texas.
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 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 himself. That is the Spirit of
Texas.
Texas is
Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San Jacinto. Texas is
Juneteenth and
Texas
Independence Day. 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 world record bass from places like
Lake Fork. Texas is Mexican food like nowhere in the world, even Mexico. Texas
is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, and the Astrodome. Texas is
larger-than-life legends like Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Janis
Joplin, ZZ Top, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, George
Bush, Lyndon B. Johnson, and George W. Bush.
Texas is
great companies like Dell Computer, Texas Instruments and
Compaq.
Texas is huge herds of cattle and miles of crops. Texas is skies
blackened with doves, and fields full
of deer.
Texas is a
place where
cities shut down for the Cowboys on
Monday Night Football, and
NIOSA
River
Parade in
San Antonio. Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers,
mountains and prairies, and modern
cities. If it isn't in
Texas, you
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 US that can fly its flag at the same height as the US
flag. 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
if we want to!
Texas is
the only
state that can legally secede from
the union. We included these things in
as part of the deal when we came on.
That's the best part right there.
Texas is also home to thousands of
soldiers, now deployed to
Iraq.
Keep them in your prayers so that
they get another chance to enjoy this
great state.