Friday, June 29, 2012

America, Home of the Free and the Brave

"On that day of our nation's birth in 1776, Thomas Jefferson tells that in the little hall in Philadelphia, debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign a Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words "treason, the gallows, the headman's axe," and the issue remained in doubt. Then a man rose and spoke. Jefferson described him as not a young man, but one who had to summon all his energy for an impassioned plea. He cited the grievances that had brought them to this moment and finally, his voice failing, he said, "They may turn every tree into a gallows, every home into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die. To the mechanic in the workshop, they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, freedom. Sign that parchment. Sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever." He fell back exhausted. The 56 delegates, swept up by his eloquence, rushed forward and signed the document destined to be as immortal as a work of man can be. When they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he was not to be found, nor could any be found who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors. Fifty-six men, a little band so unique, of which we have never seen the like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor." Ronald Reagan I love our country. I am stirred to tears at the words and music of "The Star-Spangled Banner" or "America the Beautiful" or "God Bless America." We pray daily for our country to remain free, Christian and Conservative. Each day it seems be become less and less of all three of those important virtues. This prayer-song is so appropriate now: "God bless America. Land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her Through the night with the light from above. From the mountains to the prairies To the oceans white with foam. God Bless America...my home, sweet home."

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