My Father's Oldsmobile, Ode To America Poem by Curtis Johnson

My Father's Oldsmobile, Ode To America Curtis Johnson

There once was a popular car commercial that boldly stated, 'This is not your father's Oldsmobile'. The manufacurer was apparently proud that they had built a better car. Well, I don't know if it was made better, but I do know that after more than 100 years, it was discontinued in 2004. The ad has often spoken to me about the potential of America's future, a future I'm praying will be far better than that of the Oldsmobile.

I ask: What have you done with my father's Oldsmobile? It's like I was awakened from a dream and found you to be a bit too extreme. What's not to like about the cutlass supreme? Have you laid all the oldsmobiles on a heap to rest? Why, it outperformed lots of others in many a test. Did you forget that it competed with the very best? Is it a prophetic symbol of America's future? Were you forced to put it out to pasture? You continued to mystify it until you finally put it out of its misery. Yes, you demoralized it until you completely demolished it. Me thinks that you over commercialized it. You also tried to culturize and globalize it.

It was my father's Oldsmobile, and I even bought one for my son. It was like a highlighted city on 4 wheels situated on the top of a hill. It brought lots of thrills, but you kept giving it the wrong pills. Yes, in your attempt to make it better, it became like a bird without a feather. My father's Oldsmobile reminds me of a country I once knew. I say'once knew' because it appears to be changing as rapidly as the morning dew. It seems to have forgotten its own unique design. splendid quality, and its great reliability. Me thinks it became intimidated by the jealousy and envy of others. It is quickly becoming like one of them and all the rest. O sweet America, please do not fall asleep and forget who you were purposed to be. O America, you still mean so much to the world and to me. God still sheds His Grace ob thee. Never, never relinquish your sweet liberty.

Nay, Nay, and forever Nay; the dismantling of our father's oldsmobile shall not be a prophetic symbol of the demise of America. I believe that America's survival and its ability to complete its God-given purpose can best be expressed in the words of the signers of The Declaration of Independence.
Their last sentence in that great document: 'And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we muturally pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.
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