Fourth of July Reflection

As I write this meditation, I am thinking of the Fourth of July. 

            Birthdays are supposed to be times for celebration and gift giving. Many of us will celebrate. However, what gift makes sense this year? 

            One gift might be the awareness of the fragility of freedom. Liberty is the gift America offers to the world. Liberty is always under the threat of removal. A country can lose its freedom, especially when people take it for granted. We can lose freedom when we focus upon gadgets and other things that freedom allows us to buy, while ignoring the threats from nations who oppose it and Islamic militant groups who wish to extinguish it.

            As Americans, we need to reconnect with our Founding. We need to rediscover the meaning of our country's creation. We need to do it every year. That is the reason for the ritual of a 4th of July celebration. Rituals help us to remember. Without ritual, the memory fades. Without memory, life loses its meaning.

            On this Fourth of July, we need to remember how fortunate we are to be Americans. America began as a dream of pilgrims in 1620 and others who sought the free exercise of their religion. In the New World, it did not matter so much from where you came. It mattered far more what direction you wanted to take your life. The land was spacious. It seemed filled with possibilities. By 1776, this liberty-loving people seemed ready to create a new nation. The process of becoming a nation began on July 4 of that year when its leaders signed a declaration of independence from the English king. 

            In 1776, the basis of most countries was their nationality, religion, ethnicity, or geography. The basis of America was a set of ideas. Three ideas summarize America. The government engraves them on every American coin. 1) "Liberty" means that we are free to pursue our dreams and to go as far in life as challenging work and good luck will take us. 2) "In God We Trust" means that the rights and liberties we celebrate on the Fourth of July come from the will of our Creator. Therefore, people have no right to take away our rights and liberties. Those who try must find a people strong enough and aware enough to oppose them. 3) "E Pluribus Unum" is a Latin phrase meaning "From Many, One." Unlike other countries, America is composed of people of every religious, racial, ethnic, cultural, and national origin -- and regards every one of them as equally American. Therefore, "out of many (people we become) one" -- Americans. 

            A truly patriotic celebration of America occurs in the context of admitting flaws. Perfect individuals do not exist. Perfect nations do not exist. American history has its share of shame. The most obvious shame is a particularly horrendous version of slavery. It existed at the founding of the country. It existed everywhere in the world at that time. Europeans made light of the American fight for liberty while it held so much of its population in the South in slavery. In parts of the world today, slavery remains a common way of subjecting an ethnic group or a religion. Yet, we must not forget that part of American history is a costly civil war. Granted, some fought for states’ rights, and some fought to preserve the union. We must never forget that dividing line was that some wanted the freedom to own slaves anywhere in the nation. Others wanted liberty and dignity for all persons. The war needed to end institutionalized racism. Sadly, this form of racism continued into the 1960s in the South. Ending slavery and ending institutionalized racism are parts of American history with which we can have some pride. Such battles are part of making the ideas of liberty and E Pluribus Unum the guiding principles of our institutional life. We trust God to strengthen our awareness and will whenever we see suppression of such liberty.

            Well, I have reached the end of my little meditation. 

            Right now, though, it would be good to read the Declaration of Independence. Read the list of names, many of whom suffered to implement this declaration. 

            Ask yourself a question. Would I sign the Declaration of Independence?

Note: I built upon two articles one by Thomas Sowell and the other by Dennis Prager, both well-known columnists.