Well folks, here it is the first 4th of July of the new century.
Lots of loud fireworks with dazzling light displays.
A time for get togethers, picnics and such. All to the patriotic music blaring in the background.
Just like all the 200 + Independence days of the past.
Perhaps this Independence day we should try something new.
Perhaps we could take a little time out to have a moment of silence to give thanks for what this day truly means.
Perhaps we can put aside all the petty gripes and groans about past injustices suffered by your forefathers, and remember the freedom and liberties that were given into your hands by just being born in this country.
Perhaps it is time for us all to face the responsibilities that come from being born to this freedom.
Our forefathers provided us with an opportunity to have a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
But to continue as such, it has to remain under the control of the people. If we are to continue to enjoy this freedom for which this day stands for, we must always remember, these freedoms come with a price.
This price can be summed up by one simple phrase: Use it or lose it! Stand idly by waiting for George or Jim to do it, and you will certainly lose it for your future children.
Perhaps it is a time to remind people that this is not just the United States, but even more so, it is the United People who make up the states of this country.
If you choose to seperate yourself from those people, then that is your choice. But it must be observed that this country was founded by people of every race and creed. They are the WE THE PEOPLE of the constitution. Countless lives of each and every race here have been given over to preserve this freedom and unity. Can we now let those sacrifices be for naught through our pettiness or apathetic callousness?
Past injustices are no excuse. Past wrongs won't be made right by repetitions. To go forward, we must look forward, not backward. If we were to look backward all the time, then our gracious Creator would have put our eyes in the back of our heads.
But then it is your path. I am only voicing my viewpoints, in hopes that you don't trip over the roots before you.
Yes, this is a day to celebrate our independence. But it could just as well be a day of Thanksgiving, in gratitude for this gift of freedom.
It could also be a Memorial day. In memory of all those who gave their all to bestow this freedom upon us.
It is not Indifference day.
Be thankful that it is not a Korea, Uganda, Bosnia, or any other war torn country. It is our country of freedom.
Should I come across to you, a flag waver. You bet I am. I faught hard, as many others, to maintain this freedom. And I owe it to the memory of all those who paid the ultimate price, to continue to speak out for it. But enough said!
I think this poem sent me by an unknown author says it best.
Is This Really FREE?
I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine saluted it,
and then He stood at ease.
I looked at him in uniform
So young, so tall, so proud
With hair cut square and eyes alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought, how many men like him
Had fallen through the years?
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers' tears?
I heard the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still.
I listened to the bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times
That taps had meant "Amen"
When a flag had draped a coffin
of a brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
I thought about a graveyard
at the bottom of the sea;
Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
No, Freedom isn't free!!
Have an enjoyable 4th everyone
Blue Turtle
