SammieB:
“When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…” Can you imagine the temperature in that Philadelphia room where the creators of our destiny signed their names and lives, if caught, on a paper to give us freedom from tyranny? Most people don’t understand real oppression. But with high taxes and the feeling of not being cared for by the British Empire; fifty-six men took courage and wrote a letter to a King. In that infamous letter, that calls out truth. That establishes our basis for Rights. They told the king, what they believed was true, “all men are created equal”; that we “are endowed by (our) Creator with certain unalienable Rights” which they so stated include “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. The celebration of Independence Day is our day to say Thank you to those 56 brave men.
We are able live in a state of liberty, to pursue happiness, and live our lives as we choose, because of them. We can see in the daily news stories of those in other countries that are oppressed. Those are looking to have liberation. That they can have the liberty to do whatever it is that will make them happy.
It is wonderful to see the faces of children who do not know the worries of adults. How will I get my next meal? Will I be shot if I talk to the wrong person? Will there be clean water to drink? Do I have clothes to keep me warm, am I clean? These are things in America that we hope children do not need to think about. It is sad, that anywhere in the world children are faced with these worries. Gratefully because of 56 men, America is better off, then other nations in this world.
The Fourth of July is a day of magnificent celebrations for a revolution, which changed the face of the world. It was men who wanted to change the circumstances’ in which they, and their families, were placed by a tyrannical King. They outlined the injustices done to the people living in the American Colonies. They were a people looking to establish laws for the better good of society; in which the king did not support. They wanted to king to stop hurting the people that were in the States, and they wanted him to stop preventing others from coming to America. They wanted to stop the King from cutting off trade with other parts of the world. In their words “He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people” This was in America 232 years ago. The king at the time of the signing was sending mercenaries “to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny”. These 56 men took the bold steps in declaring the independence that created a Country like no other, up neither unto that time nor since.
They wrote it this way “That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.” Independent. Independent of being ruled by a government that did not care for them. That levied heavy taxes on them. That did not give them due process in a court of Laws that was set up by them. I think we owe a great deal to these 56 men and the many others that they eagerly represented; these are the men and their families that fought for us. They fought so that we can celebrate. They also fought for us that we can unite to solve our problems. That we might be able to choose to pursue happiness. The end of the Declaration of Independence is most profound; these men did not sign a document with ink only. They signed putting their hands in “the protection of Divine Providence”; they also pledged “to each other” their Lives, Fortunes and “sacred Honor”.
Can we do this today? Are we willing to do this today? Not that our government is tyrannical and needs to change. However, maybe each of us can choose in our pursuit of happiness to teach a child what it is to give our Lives for a cause worth more than life itself. That is what these men did.
May the children of America in 2008, not have the worries of adults, because the adults stood for that which was larger then themselves.