July 4th

Family, Friends, Countrymen,

Today we stand together in celebration of this great, this fine, this proud nation. From the humble beginnings of persectured churchmen and political dissidents, to the outcasts of enlightened society, the refuse of the English Empire, those with too much ambition, those with too little of anything to speak of, our nation has transformed, a chrysalis bringing forth this beacon of liberty, of hope and of justice. Since Columbus set foot on his New World, these lands have been a place to start anew, to begin again; a source of hope, of freedom unknown, of life unhindered, of love and life and faith with burning passions.

On this day, men of letters, proud, principled, intelligent and gifted with God’s wisdom set forth in ink this Grand Experiment. Our Republic, founded by the gun, the pen, and the men and women of this great nation both high and low, set forth as the small backwater refusing to allow exploitation by the Great Lion, the might British Empire, upon whom the sun never set. With unyielding will, minds a lit with the fires of freedom’s promise, and with a little luck, the humble American trapped the mighty Redcoat upon this very shore, and soon this great nation, began the painful, glorious and mighty process of birth.

Ladies and gentlemen, today we have inherited the dreams of our fathers, our mothers, of men and women yet unborn in nations where freedom’s bell rings not, were the bootheel crushes, where hope lives not, where darkness covers the land. The question presented to us today is simple: do we continue to feed that fire? To live that dream? That some day, some place, men may be treated as  equal, before God and men gearter merely by merit, and that the oppressed may find freedom, the crushed maybe lifted up, and that all that means to be human will be celebrated in birth, in life, in death.

Across this world people dream of a better life. They dream of security that comes from wealth, from the lights of hope and freedom, that they may be men and women, respected by God and others for their inherent natural worth, they dream that as beings with wills and aspirations, filled to the brim with life they may live it, for better of worse. They dream that this life lies here, in these hallowed lands, from sea to shining sea; in these flowing plains, in these broad forests, in these harsh deserts, in this mighty cities, in the hearts of the citizens here.

But we must not forget that this Mighty Republic is the world’s Greatest Experiment, and that our freedoms are not forever, nor are they our natural state. They were taken by force from men with far greater means. Whether it was from the British or the slaveholder, from the party machine boss or the gangleader, from the drugs dealt on our streets to the fears and hatreds that spring from our very hearts, freedom is not free! It is not given to us like a present at Christmas, or our names at birth, it is power removed from few and given to the many, that none may dominate over all. It is fought for and many more men and women die seeking than reach it.

It is in this spirit that today, on the day of our independence, and the flower of the virus of freedom, I call upon each of us to bring hope to those men and women within and beyond, to serve and to love, to hope, and most of all to live free. While our light may be covered, our lives may be taken, our homes may be laid to waste, our dream will never die! It shall live on in the hearts of men on worlds far distant from our own, in the skies and in the oceans, in the farthest stars and the closest hearths. It shall be spread across all borders, across all colors and creeds and into the very soul of humanity.

Today, friends we celebrate as we should. And tomorrow, we fight!

God Bless You All

God Bless America

J.M.G.

~ by Mark on July 4, 2009.