Robert Johnson: Lieutenant USN -- Navy Seal

By Michael Edwards

We are the Americans. We can do anything. “Impossible” is a word we have stricken from the dictionary. If it please us, we can dam the Mississippi and push it back over the Rockies to water the desert, even unto California. The hand of God is upon us, I tell you. It is said that God protects children, drunkards, and Americans. We laugh at hearing that, and yet, in God we trust. Wholeheartedly. Let the jackals nip at our heels. We care not. We say to them, some day history will judge us. But first, America must shape the history of the world. And as for the present, the mind of man can hardly fathom the magnificence of this our land. God shook empty the horn of plenty on the day when he poured out his blessings on this our land. Can you not see it? The founding of America ushers in the apocalypse. Brace yourself. Stand ready. For now it can come. Ah! But then the golden age. When all the world will be not-unlike our very own land. More American, perhaps, in some ways, than even America. A heaven on Earth. So you see, we have been sent to fulfill the destiny of the world, by fulfilling the purposes of God in the world. We are on a mission. We are the children of light. Though the children of darkness oppose us—whether within or without—we will vanquish them. With one mighty stroke, we will cut them off at the root. We will pile their branches even to the roof of heaven. A bonfire we will make of them, root and branch, flaming upward to the sky—a sacrifice to our Father in heaven. For we are the Americans, and we can do anything. The hand of God is upon us. Now and forever more.

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Michael Edwards was born on a navy base, raised in a navy family, and served in the USN twice, himself: first as an enlisted man, and later, as an officer. He now teaches English at Santa Fe College, in Florida. Recently, he has been working on a gallery of portraits, using the strategy of the dramatic monologue. In this case, as written by a young officer named Robert Johnson, a Navy Seal. Edwards’ most recent publication is a story titled “The Mountain Pathway,” in the latest issue of The Dillydoun Review.