Today's guest editorial was written by Billy Simons, a Blogland reader who lives in Summerville with his wife Ana. You can email him at maito:billysimonsrealestate@gmail.com.

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I wanted to give thanks for a being born into what some might consider a life of privilege. The phrase is often thrown around that someone has been born with a “silver spoon in their mouth”; well I am one of those people.

The distinct “privilege” to which I refer to is that I was born a citizen of the United States. It truly is a blessing to have been born in this greatest country that the world has ever known.

America is unique in that an individual born into modest circumstances can achieve anything their heart desires through perseverance and hard work. I am fortunate to be a citizen of a country where your success is determined not by your paternity, but by your perseverance.

I am blessed to live in a country where if I disagree with the actions of the government I can peacefully express my displeasure.

As the descendant of someone that came to America in the late 1600s in search of religious freedom, I am blessed to be able to choose the religion that I desire to practice.

I am blessed to have overcome the death of my mother when I was 12 years old. I am lucky to live in a society where a man could begin working in a grocery store as a bag boy, and just a few short years later be leading one of that company’s most successful operations.

But there are many throughout the world are unable to experience these blessings. My beautiful wife Ana was one of billions born into a society where the hopes and dreams of individuals are meaningless and success or failure is determined by the state.

When Stalin made Moldova, Ana’s homeland, part of the Soviet Union, the parents of her godmother were sent to Siberia for the unspeakable crime of being landowners. Her grandmother speaks of being fortunate that at the time of collectivization she only had one child, which allowed them to hide enough wheat from the soldiers to feed their family and avoid being one of the millions of victims of Stalin’s forced famines.

Ana’s first lesson came when she was an infant. As a baby her parents wished that she be baptized into the Orthodox Church. In order for this to happen the priest had to visit a home in the village under cover of darkness and in disguise to christen several children in the village, since the open practice of religion was prohibited.

Imagine being a child and your summer days would begin with a bus coming to the village to take the children to pick fruits from the government owned orchards so they could be distributed to the people.

Imagine being stopped by the police on your way to class at the University, but you made sure not to tell them that you were on your way to take an exam, because that would mean paying a much higher bribe in order to be allowed to go about your business.

Now imagine this woman leaving her family and moving to a strange land thousands of miles away, only knowing two phrases in English: “Hi, my name is Ana” and “How are you?”. She reached the beacon of freedom that she had heard about in hushed tones as she grew up, taught herself the language of this new country and worked as many as three jobs at a time.

It is in pursuing her dreams that she meets a man who was fortunate enough to be born in this land of freedom and opportunity. She would make his dreams come true by becoming his wife.

We will never apologize for possessing such a lofty station in life. We will never feel guilty for achieving success through hard work. For these blessings, we will always cast our gaze skyward and give thanks for the opportunity to belong to and contribute to this nation which Ronald Reagan called “last best hope of mankind.”

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