Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Independence Day

There may be a tendency to think of our forefathers as rich white landowners who didn't really believe in equality for both sexes and races, who were pretty radical when it came to bringing down the monarchy in our bit of land.  They didn't like to pay taxes for things they thought we deserved for free, or at least, that we had a hand in what those rulers overseas decided for us.  They didn't think we were all stupid, just most of us.
This is real.  This is history.
Most of them didn't believe in the Christian god as anything more than the Creator, if that.
They liked owning land.  They might not have been able to had they lived in the Mother Country.

But you have to hand it to them, those forefathers of ours.
They sure did come up with some nifty ideas about government in 1776 that still make sense and hold true today.  They did it again in 1789 with their Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Can you name another country that has been this stable, has realized such great potential and kept pretty much to their laws without violent revolution in all this time?

I'm sure there may be some, but I happen to like the one I live in.
All the above statements about our forefathers is historically accurate.  They were not saints--oh, Ben Franklin was a poster child for wild living--but he was a brilliant mind and outside of the turkey thing, he did all right for us.  Tom Jefferson was a genius but a bit of an introvert.  George Washington was brash and full of himself but turned out to do the right thing most of the time.  Anybody else?  Hamilton was a pirate.  Adams had trouble getting along with his playmates.  But they overcame these foibles to leave us with a pretty great country.

~~Waving flag here~~

History is behind us.  We live for today, but are mindful of the past with its triumphs and mistakes, in order to keep on keepin' on.

2 comments:

  1. Great blog, Irene. I'm inspired! I really like "We live for today......"

    Chris

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  2. Sometimes I am moved to create my own philosophy. Other times, I just spout nonsense. This is for true!

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