cur-mud-geon:
anyone who hates hypocrisy and pretense and has the temerity to say so; anyone with the habit of pointing out unpleasant facts in an engaging and humorous manner
We’re about to celebrate our independence as a country on the 231st anniversary of that event. We have encountered many problems over those years and we have, so far at least, survived each of them as a country.
We’ve not always been truly“united” states; our forefathers fought each other over the issue of slavery in a war that threatened our country. But, we came through that tumultuous time and, even though there are those who still have quite strong convictions about North versus South, we are united.
We’ve faced attack from enemies abroad and have managed to defeat those enemies, often at very significant costs to all sides. We continue to face issues that threaten our country.
Our issues today threaten to tear us apart yet again. We struggle with our involvement in Iraq. We struggle with our position in the world. We struggle with the concept of terrorism and its impact on our country. We struggle with immigration. We struggle with health care. We struggle with street crime. We struggle with poverty. We struggle with changing morality. We struggle over politics.
It is easy to lose sight of the fundamental freedoms we have in the midst of our struggles. We have the right to struggle. We have the right to debate. We can voice our opinions even to the extreme. We can engage in the political arena. We can move across our state borders without problems. We can change employment. We can attend church…any church. We can educate our children. We can own property.
We have so many rights that we sometimes seem to forget what lies at the base of all those rights. In order for our rights to be our rights, we have followed the rules set by our society. We respect the rights of our neighbors so long as they don’t abuse our rights. There is always a push and pull going on within our society. That is healthy for our society is a living and dynamic thing.
It is time to step back, take a deep breath or two and think about what we have, how we got where we are, and what we need to do to protect and promote our way of life.
I submit the following for your consideration…
We must remember that we are a country of laws; those laws must be obeyed and enforced; if laws no longer pertain, then those should be stricken from the books.
We need to assert and maintain our rights as a member of the world community.
We must remember that to those whom much is given, from those much is expected.
We must respect our neighbors and they must respect us…so long as we are not violating the laws of nature or society.
We must continue to be the beacon of hope for our neighbors in the world.
We must not permit ourselves to be bullied whether by other countries or by other movements.
We must control our borders in order to protect ourselves and to provide for an orderly assimilation of those who would become citizens.
We must remain vigilant to protect our freedoms from those who would take those freedoms from us in the name of progress.
We must exercise our rights or we’ll surely lose those rights.
