The Fourth of July, 2011

The Fourth of July

Today is the Fourth of July. It is a day of celebration, a day to celebrate family, friends, and our freedom(s). On this day we may go to a parade, or we may have a family barbecue, or we may fish, swim, boat, ski and play. Today is a day for celebrating the freedoms for which our ancestors fought and died. The freedoms which we so often take for granted.

Our ancestors lived without those freedoms that we assume are our birth-given rights. The freedom to worship when and where and how we want. Even, the freedom to not worship at all. The freedom to say what is on our minds, even when we make fools of ourselves. It is our right to express every thought, whether it is good, bad or stupid. It is our thoughts, our opinions; and in America no one has the right to take them away from us. At least not yet, not until we allow them to be taken from us.

Today we will eat anything we want, as much as we want, and when we want. Our ancestors did not always have that freedom. They went without many times, so that we- their grandchildren, can have those things that they lacked. Would they be pleased to see us fat and slovenly? Would they even be able to believe that their descendants have the freedom to walk into a grocery store and buy foods grown from around the world? And not just have the freedom to buy them, but the ability to earn enough money to do so? We today have those things that they did not even dream were possible.

Yet today, do we appreciate these things, these blessings in our lives? Most of us do not. We expect there to always be stores overflowing with foods. We expect to have the excess money not just to buy those things that we need, but also the many things that we want. Has there ever been a time in America when the average citizen had the ability to indulge most of his extravagant wants?

How did we get to this place of bounty? What did it cost us?

Most of us were born into it. Most of us don't even realize that it has been and might again become a world of lack rather than abundance. We have clothes, not only to keep us warm, but to make us stylish. We have food, not only to keep us alive, but to make us a country of fat people. We have freedom of speech, so that we not only say those things that are important but we actually say a lot of those things that are not necessary to say. We speak without thinking, just because we can.

We in America have become the most self-indulgent, self-serving nation on the earth today. And yet, we are still the best, for although many of us do not appreciate the gift that we have, it is non-the-less a gift. Our freedom is a blessing never seen before in history. We have a nation that has never been matched, and may never be again.

But like all gifts, it can be taken away. Our ancestors fought and won the Revolutionary War in 1776. Our ancestors again fought and won a war with England in 1812. We won our freedom twice from the mother country. We have fought within our own continent. We have gone to war in the name of freedom in other countries. Many have paid the price for our continuing freedoms today. But do we understand and appreciate what we have?

Today is the day to celebrate this gift of freedom. But what will tomorrow bring? Are we doing those necessary things to hold onto our freedom? Some seem to think that the majority of Americans do not have the wisdom to self-govern. Is this because they see us over-indulging, with no regard for the consequences of our decisions, our actions? Are we really unable to govern ourselves as our forefathers intended? Is America in need of a dictator to save us from ourselves?

There are those who seem to advocate this approach, and it seems that there are those who are happy to comply, to let someone else tell us what we need, what we want, what we should and should not say, do, and be. Will Americans let someone take our freedoms away? Do we not realize that a self-governing people must actually govern themselves? What must we do to stay a free nation under God?

It is my philosophy that we need to raise our children so that they will be God controlled, not man controlled. Our children start out being parent-controlled. We attempted to teach them to be self-controlled, and from there they must make their own decision to be God controlled. I think America could once again thrive, if our children could, at least, become self-controlled.

Those who founded our country were men of self-control. They desired that which we have. They did, and would again fight to make this a nation that is free to self-govern. To be a self governing nation, we must be a self-governing people. Do you have the ability to govern your self? Do you have self-control? Maybe this is the place for each of us to start in our never-ending journey to stay a free nation. Let us each strengthen our own self-control. For a nation of people who are in control of themselves, is a free nation of which to be proud.

I pray that I can be one of those self-governing citizens. I pray that I will continue to live in a nation that is governed by other self-governing citizens. I pray for this nation, this home of the free and land of the brave. Long live America.

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