Thoughts on Independence Day 2020 | #4thOfJuly #IndependenceDay

Photo by Tyler Whitehead
on Unsplash

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

As I contemplate these words on this Independence Day 2020, I am drawn to this first sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. In the list of our unalienable rights, Life comes first.

 

Before Liberty.

 

Before the pursuit of Happiness.

 

Life comes first.

 

I think this is instructive. Jefferson could have written those things in any order, but he chose this one.

 

So perhaps as we think about the grave concerns facing our country this Independence Day, we, too, should think of Life first.

 

Of the Lives we can save by staying home as much as possible and wearing masks when we cannot stay home. Though it may temporarily restrict our individual Liberty and pursuit of Happiness.

 

Of the minority Lives who for hundreds of years have not been valued equally with the Lives of the majority, so that their own Liberty and pursuit of Happiness has been diminished.

 

I hope you, too, will take time and consider these self-evident truths. And reflect on your role in bringing the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence closer to fruition as we enter our 245th year as a nation.

 

As we test whether this nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.

References:

• The Declaration of Independence
• The Gettysburg Address

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All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Please see specifics on my re-use policy before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

Happy Independence Day USA!!

Public Domain

I have never been shy about my pride in being a citizen of The United States of America. Our country is certainly not perfect, but it is structured in such a way that we can all work together, even when our views differ, to come closer and closer to being a nation that truly does provide liberty and justice for all.

We would not be a nation today had it not been for a small group of men coming together in 1776 for the purpose of declaring independence. Most of us in the US can recite these famous words of The Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

But have you ever read the entire Declaration? I fear for most of us, that answer is "No." Or we read it so very long ago in school that we don't even remember. There is a sadness, I think, in being unfamiliar with the document that was responsible for launching the founding of our country.

So, I encourage you and your family and friends, and especially any children who are with you today, to take 15 minutes out of your festivities and watch the video below. Morgan Freeman's introduction to a dramatic reading of the Declaration is nearly as moving as the words of the document itself.

Make an effort. I think you'll be glad you did. Happy Independence Day!




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All original work in this post by Sandy Kendell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Please see specifics on my re-use policy in the right-hand column of my blog before re-posting/re-using any of my blog content.

Happy Birthday, USA!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/uhuru1701/2247554723/

I am blessed beyond measure to have been born in, grown up in, and thrived in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I wish somehow that the thank-yous captured in the lives of millions of Americans lived over the last 235 years might ring backward in time to the 56 men who signed the Declaration, "with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence," pledging their Lives, their Fortunes, and their sacred Honor. I wonder if they could have envisioned what they were setting in motion in 1776.

In honor of our Independence Day, I hope you'll take 15 minutes to view this dramatic reading of The Declaration of Independence, the first-of-its-kind document which started it all. The introduction by Morgan Freeman is stirring in itself.