Let's have a digression from our usual topics, to express our sympathy and sorrow about the disgusting assault on Paris yesterday!
France was the first ally the USA had, and i always get tears in my eyes, thinking of how her people risked their families' lives, assisting downed American pilots during WWII.
To me, the best of American culture is largely a melding of English and French influences, with valuable additions from the Spanish, Native American, Germanic/Scandinavian, and many others.
Not least important, the best cuisine in America -- that of New Orleans -- is based largely upon the French, with NA and Spanish contributions.
The most rousing scene in "Casablanca" was when Laszlo (not a Frenchman) leads the orchestra in La Marseillaise when the Nazi officers begin singing their objectionable anthem. THIS is how i feel right now.
VIVE LA FRANCE!
Me, too. I've seen a lot jeering of the French from one political party...how quickly they forget our allies! I think a visit to Normandy will set them straight. My parents said the French were so grateful for liberation and the graves of our soldiers are kept so well.
ReplyDeleteRefreshing is the least that can be said for it.
Amen!!!
DeleteRight-wingers are fond of sneering at France, but conveniently forget that it's smaller and significantly more vulnerable than the US. In order to not be decimated by Germany in the twentieth century, they used diplomacy ... then the Resistance "tore the enemy a new one." Paris has been the seat of ingenious thought, as well as art, for centuries.
It always seemed to me that the French in the New World managed to work with -- and learn from -- the Native Americans in ways that other groups completely failed to do....