When you're from Texas, people who you meet ask you

questions like, "Do you have any cows?"

It's nice to be able to say yes.

They ask you, "Do you have horses?"

Yup.

Bet you got a bunch of guns, eh?

Of course.

They all want to know if you've been to Southfork.

They watched Dallas. Have you ever looked at a map of

the world? Why sure you have. Look at Texas for me

just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle

and the Gulf Coast, and the Red River and the Rio

Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever will

be. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at

it, they know what it is. It's Texas. Pick any kid

off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of

Texas in the dirt, and he'll know what it is.What

happens if I show you a picture of any other state?

You'll get it maybe after a second, but who else

would? Even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings

in you?

In every man, woman and child on this little rock the

Good Lord put us on, there is somewhere in them a

person who wishes just once he could be a real live

Texan and get up on a horse or ride in a pickup. Did

you ever hear anyone in a restaurant go, "Wow... so

you're from Ok-la-homa. Cool. Tell me about it"?

There is some bit of Texas in everyone. Do you know

why? Because Texas is Texas.

Texas is the Alamo. Texas is 183 men standing in a

church, facing thousands of Mexican soldiers, fighting

for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save

themselves but stayed. We send our kids to schools

named William B. Travis and Bowie, and do you know

why? Because those men saw a line in the sand, and

they decided to be heroes. John

Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is Texas.

Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San

Jacinto. Texas is Texas Independence Day and

Juneteenth. Texas is huge forests of piney woods like

the Davy Crockett National Forest. Texas is

breathtaking mountains in Big Bend. Texas is shiny

skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas. Texas is oak and

cedar trees, cactus, Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush

in the beautiful Texas Hill Country. Texas is world

record bass from places like Lake Fork. Texas is

Mexican food like nowhere in the world, even Mexico.

Texas is larger-than-life legends like Earl Campbell

and Nolan Ryan, Denton Cooley and Michael DeBakey,

Lyndon Johnson, George Bush, and George W. Bush,

Willie Nelson and Buddy Holly. Texas is great

companies like Dell Computer and Compaq. Texas is huge

herds of cattle and miles of crops. Texas is skies

blackened with doves and leases full of deer. Texas is

the best Bar-b-que anywhere. Texas is a place where

cities shut down for the Cowboys on Monday Night

Football and the streets are deserted during church.

Texas is beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains

and prairies.

By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S.

that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S.

flag. Think about that for a second. You fly the Stars

and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland, or California, or

Maine, and your state flag goes at 17. You fly the

Stars and Stripes in front of Pine Tree High in

Longview, Texas, at 20 feet, and the Lone Star flies

at 20 feet. Our capitol is the only one in the country

that is taller than the capitol building in D.C. We

signed those in as part of the deal when we came

on. Texas was its own country. The Republic of Texas.

Every time I think of all these things I tear up.

All of them make you proud to be a Texan.