Liberty
We celebrate the 4th as a day of recognition for a great and bold action that helped create who we are today. We must also take time to honor the present, appreciating how far we’ve come in our journey, but that becomes increasingly difficult as recent events prove.
On this particular day I can’t help think about where we are going as a nation, which sometimes is everywhere and nowhere. Too many of us have lost our humility, our pride. We take so much for granted – family, friends and neighbors, and people we don’t even know but hear about in the news, and in haste we judge instead of taking the time to understand we are all in this together, that you are me and I am you, and that we are all one. All are looking for a slice of the American Dream, which is born out of hopes and aspirations passed down from generation to generation.
What exactly is the American Dream? I seem to have forgotten… Ah, yes – something about life, liberty and the pursuit happiness. What began as a simple, but revolutionary idea has now come to represent an expectation, sometimes devoid of effort. We are more consumed with owning things and making money – and that’s important, but so is empathy, faith, trust, loyalty, responsibility, honesty, integrity, equality, diversity, and I could go on and on.
With each passing day, I see more and more people taking our freedoms for granted. Now more than ever, I appreciate religious freedom and the freedom to not believe. I am grateful for civil liberties and rights that many are afforded, but I have to fight just a little harder to have, and that is okay because it makes me respect/honor them so much more.
Enjoy the fireworks, barbecues, parades, carnivals, picnics, concerts, etc. View televised ceremonies, read inspiring quotes people post on Facebook and Twitter and listen to speeches from politicians and others as they memorialize this day. Do all of that, but keep one thing in mind – if you don’t see yourself in others, if you can’t find yourself in someone else’s words, especially when they talk about hope, unity and equality, something is terribly wrong.
Commemorate this occasion every day by staying vigilant in seeking the truth for liberty means nothing without responsibility. Stop being seduced by politicians as if they really have your best interest at heart. Beware of the un-Christian Christian. Let’s start a revolution, and it begins when we take it upon ourselves to weed out the hypocrites. As always, I am never without hope for a new day. Cheers! – paerki
