And because this is always appropriate:
And.....a MUST READ piece over at Villainous Company:
Freedom Is Not Just An "American" Value
Let freedom ring, let the white dove sing
Let the whole world know that today is a day of reckoning
Let the weak be strong, let the right be wrong
Roll the stone away, let the guilty pay
It's Independence Day....
Three years ago on the eve of another Independence Day, I wrote these words:
About one week from now, we will celebrate the Fourth of July. All over America, these words will be read:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
What are those words worth, today? Not much, apparently. Do we still believe them? Are they still engraved on our hearts? Do we still believe that ALL men are created equal?...
And she closes with this:
On the eve of Independence Day it is good to remember that liberty cannot survive without the will to defend our way of life. In a borderless world we can no longer huddle behind the comforting walls of outdated isolationism and chastened "pragmatism". This nation was not built by the practical but by the bold, and it will not long endure if we fear to champion the great ideas and bold ventures that took America from a few huddled colonies to a slumbering giant whose cities stretch from sea to shining sea. The past fades all too quickly before our weary eyes and unwilling memories. The future, as they say, is prologue:
What kind of world will we bequeath to our grandchildren? It may be decades before we know. But our actions today will have an incalculable effect on that far-off tomorrow. And if our policy is not firmly grounded in the spread of those long-ago words:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights...
...then I wonder if we shall not be the first Americans who fail to pass the blessings of liberty on to the next generation?
Even with all their attendant uncertainty, days like yesterday give me hope that America is still, despite her faults, a great nation. A nation of doers.
A nation of believers. Faith is not foolish - it is our birthright: something we drink in with our mother's milk and pour out to an increasingly cynical world in the form of American blood and American treasure. This is nothing to be ashamed of. We owe it to those who have gone before us - to those who fought and bled so that we could enjoy the blessings of liberty.
We owe it to our children....
If you read nothing else today, or this week, or this YEAR, go HERE and read ALL of this piece. It says all that this foreigner believes about America. Yes, I DO believe.
HAPPY JULY 4th to you all; those at home and those serving the flag, wherever you are.
God bless America.
