Fourth Of July Insight

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Last night while sitting on my porch watching numerous fireworks light the sky and the wavering of the flag posted next to me, the thought struck me; why did they risk and sacrifice everything so dear and precious to them? The “they” in its origin refers to our Founding Fathers who on July 4, 1776 committed the heinous crime of treason against the British Throne. These Founders, including Thomas Jefferson who penned the Declaration of Independence, were neither peasants nor paupers. They were merchants, aristocrats, political leaders, and noted dignitaries; yet they willingly signed their own death sentence.

Through the history of our country from the first soldiers who fell at Bunker Hill to the bodies rolling in the surf off the beaches of Normandy and countless other battles and places, our countrymen have always been at the ready to risk and if need be to sacrifice their lives. Did you ever think why?

Was it because they [as in all throughout our history] believed that our daily toils should be ever increasingly seized from us by government? Did they believe that government oppression results in a superior quality of life than that of unbridled individualism? Did they believe that concepts such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom to address the government was not meant for the masses but reserved for only a chosen few?

If they did, then they sacrificed and died in vain. For the course of tyranny beginning with the British Throne and progressing through the ages to Hitler and to the present needs no battle to claim victory. It only needs apathy and ignorance. Government needs no sacrifice; it only needs chains and shackles.

Our celebration today is not to pay homage to government; it is a celebration of the individual. A celebration symbolized not by fireworks, but by the rows of graves marked by white crosses. God Bless America.

Mark Pribonic @ OnTheBorderLine