It’s
the Fourth of July, 2019, and I sometimes wonder how many people give
thought to what the Fourth is really about. Yes, it’s the day we
celebrate the Declaration of Independence, which originally was
independence from rule under the thumb of the King of England. But
many of us just think of it as a day, sometimes two days, off work –
a day to go camping or boating, watch parades and fireworks, get
sunburns and eat hot dogs. We forget what our ancestors suffered to
reach the freedom too many people take for granted today.
Our
original settlers came here to get away from totalitarian rule, and
they eventually built their own Nation, wrote their own laws, and
planned their own form of government, which, above all, established
individual freedoms one could never enjoy under a dictatorship.
“Of
the People, By the People, For the People.” Our government is
supposed to represent all of that, and we therefore get to vote for
those who will run the government with the PEOPLE in mind. Sometimes
it seems things don’t always turn out that way, but for the most
part, we are still the greatest, the richest, most free Nation in the
world, where the PEOPLE run things, and where entrepreneurs who work
hard can realize their dreams.
Few
people today think about what it took to build this Nation. They
don’t think about the lives and fortunes that were sacrificed so
they could live with today’s freedoms. For me, the Fourth of July
brings to mind early settlers who risked their lives on ships that
originally came here over a dangerous ocean, who risked their lives
associating with America’s original natives, who risked their lives
fighting a very powerful King’s rule, who risked their lives
against the elements of weather, disease, wild animals, torrential
rivers, unsurmountable mountains, blazing hot deserts, the lack of
doctors and the conveniences we have today.
It
brings to mind people who walked across this nation without the kind
of shoes and clothing we have today, people who faced mosquitos and
flash-flooded canyons, stampeding buffalo and warring Indians who
didn’t care for our intrusion, grassland with sod so thick that the
common plow could not turn it, prairie fires or dense wooded areas
where it was next to impossible to create a roadway, mountains so
high that wagons and horses and oxen had to be lowered by rope to the
other side. Women left children buried behind them, graves never to
be visited again.
I
have no doubt that the average person today, including me, could
never withstand the rugged sacrifices made by the early pilgrims and
the emigrants who came after them and dared to search for their
dreams farther and farther west. There were no fast cars, no
highways, no 7-11’s, no doctors or dentists, no pain shots or
pills, and often no water. There was no suntan lotion, no treatments
for snakebite, no soft beds, no showers and baths, no cold beer at
the end of a long, hot day.
There was only
determination, bravery and big dreams – dreams that were always
just beyond the never-ending western horizon. There was big-sky
country, magnificent mountains, endless prairie, and space to stretch
your arms and imagination into land ownership that few people in
other countries, other than the richest Lords and Princes, could
enjoy, and for many years here in America, that land was free, as
long as it was farmed and utilized.
Today
we can do what we want, speak what we want, realize our own dreams
and travel any place in the country, completely free to do those
things without the worry of some dictator throwing us in prison
without a trial. Today we take all these things for granted, but our
ancestors did not. We should remember them, honor them, thank them,
and make sure we never fall back into a type of government that rules
our lives to the point where we need to fight all over again for our
individual freedoms.
Enjoy
2019’s INDEPENDENCE DAY, and pray for the souls of those who made
such a celebration possible.
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