I sit here today with the sun shining down, relaxing and grateful for a long weekend. For many this day means camping, beer and blowing things up. For others it means parades, cookouts with friends and relaxation. But for all of us it should be about the sacrifices made by our forefathers that paved the road to give us the freedom we enjoy today. Those brave men paid for the strength of their convictions with their livelihoods, the loss of their families, the loss of their freedom and some the loss of their lives. They knew the risks when they signed the Declaration of Independence, but that didn't stop them from doing what they knew was right. The road to freedom is paved with the gravestones of brave men and women who fought to their last breath so that you can blow up those firecrackers, light those sparklers and sit by the bonfire with friends.
What would YOU do if faced with a similar situation? Would you stand up and be counted as strong enough to face your enemies bravely, willing to fight to your death so that your children and grandchildren could be free? Would you sign your name on that line, the line that could lead to your torture and death? Or would you sit back and watch while the country you love changed irrevocably for the worse, your freedoms stripped one by one, day by day? God gave us this nation, it was built on Judeo-Christian principles. Yet every day I see and hear news stories telling me that I am wrong for holding those principles close to my heart by a minority of people in this nation who have decided to be the national class bully. I don't care for bullies. Not even a little bit. They have no place in this society, no place in our lives, and for gosh sakes, they have no place making decisions for the majority of people who live in this country. What has happened to our backbone people? We sit back and watch these bullies flex their so-called muscle pull all of those strings, and complacently watch it happen! WAKE UP! Our forefathers FOUGHT AND DIED so we could be free! Are we seriously going to just sit here and wave good-bye to that freedom? Their blood spilled on the battlegrounds of their various times cries out to not let their deaths have happened in vain!
Today we celebrate and remember the day we, as a nation, as a free republic, took a stand and declared our independence. Let this special day not become a place of distant memory, or just a day to blow things up. Make this day a day to make a firm, inner resolve to take a stand against the bullies and stop letting them take away our freedoms that they are so diligently trying to take away. Vote, be aware of what is going on in our country, in our government, in our communities. WE THE PEOPLE are who those government officials work for, so make your voice heard both near to home, and all the way to our nation's capitol, and take a stand in honor of our past and in preparation for our future.
God Bless America, and may you have a blessed Independence Day.
