The American spirit is contagious. That’s why wokesters and those who seek to undermine the patriotic love of country hate it.
Cheerleaders from Muskegon High School in west Michigan spontaneously started singing the national anthem at a cheer competition last week, according to Michigan’s ABC 13.
Students and parents from Reeths-Puffer, Mona Shores, Zeeland East and Muskegon were gathered at Muskegon High School waiting for the national anthem to play over the school’s sound system.
Something went wrong with the equipment. Several attempts to get the anthem on air failed.
That’s when the varsity cheerleaders from Muskegon High School decided to improvise. They began singing the national anthem on their own.
The other cheerleaders were quick to join in.
Julie Andrews, a mom from Muskegon, told WZZM-TV, “Everyone was surprised and smiling. And some people started pulling out their phones and just saying, ‘Oh my gosh.’ ”
“So, yeah,” Andrews continued, “it was just a pleasant surprise.”
Andrews was at the school gym with her fifth-grade daughter who was there to perform during breaks in the cheer competition.
It’s worth saying again: the American spirit is contagious. It makes people smile. It makes them proud. It gives them identity.
It is good.
These days, depending on where you are, the American spirit is often muted. Athletes kneel during the national anthem in protest of the horrors of slavery and racism in American history. But if a football coach kneels on the field to silently pray after the game is over, he finds himself suspended.
Wokesters applaud athletes kneeling during the national anthem because they have been taught to hate the country they live in. I can see them gnashing their teeth and rolling their eyes when a group of high school cheerleaders breaks out in a show of spontaneous patriotism.
But that’s where we are in this country. It is what it is.
And it doesn’t stop there. The LGBT activists have infiltrated the corporate ranks of professional sports. Even the National Hockey League is bending the knee to fanatical political correctness and left-wing ideology.
In November, the NHL touted its support of a “Team Trans Draft Tournament” in the first tweet, recognizing a hockey competition in which only transgender players competed, as was reported by The Western Journal.
The NHL is proud to support this past weekend’s Team Trans Draft Tournament in Middleton, Wisconsin. This was the first tournament comprised entirely of transgender and nonbinary players, with around 80 folks participating! #HockeyIsForEveryone #NHLPride pic.twitter.com/OfEoAVXtH5
— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2022
Before the conservative-leaning fan base could object, the NHL doubled down, claiming, “Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary identity is real.”
Trans women are women. Trans men are men. Nonbinary identity is real.
— NHL (@NHL) November 22, 2022
This is just one example among many, but you probably already know this.
The powers that be — the so-called elite — are pushing an anti-American woke ideology. That’s a fact. But don’t have to accept it.
To combat the nonsense, and that’s what it is, all it takes is a bit of courage to stand up for your convictions. You don’t even have to think about it. The Michigan cheerleaders broke out singing the national anthem not out of protest, but out of pride.
If that’s teen spirit these days, we need more of it — a lot more.
Yes, American history has some dark episodes. The history of humankind is fraught with them. We live in a fallen world.
But that doesn’t mean we should stop striving for a more perfect union and dwell on past failures. It doesn’t mean we have to rebel against reality because it doesn’t always conform to our desires.
It means we have to keep striving for excellence — both individually and collectively — as “one nation under God.”
The American spirit is as strong as ever. And if the high school cheerleaders from Michigan are any indicator, it’s still youthful as well.
If there is any question that the star-spangled banner yet waves over the land of the free and the home of the brave, it does.
The wokesters had better get used to it.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.