-July 4th 2020-
The turning point
- the uncomfortable conversations-
"Perhaps it's fate that today is the 4th of July and you will once again be fighting for our freedom, not from tyranny, oppression, or persecution but from annihilation."
President Whitmore
Independence Day - 1996
What is in a day?
We look at the chaos and confusion, the hate and vitriol that splashes incessantly across our feeds, and pause for a moment to reflect upon our history.
I am the same age this 4th of July as Thomas Jefferson was 244 years ago, thirty three. It is daunting to think about what was playing out at the time that he penned the Declaration of Independence. Knowing full well that by writing and signing that document, that you are committing treason. Your very life hangs in the balance of how those around you react. You and 55 other signers betting your lives and fortunes on a single opportunity to fight for life, liberty, and a pursuit of happiness.
Today we see our history being torn down and burned, we see our elected officials spit on the same documents that they swore an oath to uphold, these documents that our ancestors gave their lives for. We see those that have no knowledge of the past trying to rewrite our history to show that our country was founded on hate. So much so, that as I type these words my mind goes to the cancel culture that is playing out before our very eyes. The mob rule that can bring down a nation. That can decimate the hearts and minds and the will of those that stand against tyranny.
It feels as of late that we have entered the upside-down, what is right is wrong, what is true is false, what is tyranny is freedom. We see chaos and misinformation being thrown at us from both sides as we sit in the middle of a gorge on a bridge that is cracking. Cracking under the weight of corruption and bloated government that has failed to remember why this nation was founded.
We are not a perfect nation. Our founding was not perfect. Our founding was the opportunity to do better. To strive to be a better land. We have many faults in our history, but each and everyday in this nation we have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes, to grow as individuals, as communities, as a nation. We are better because of the differences and diversity in our lives that allow us to think and act as no other nation can. 244 years of history to reflect upon and figure out where the mistakes were made, how our nation has progressed forward as well as what has caused us to go backwards.
The year 2020 has shown us many faults in our nation. We have been given the gift of sight, now we must decide what we will do with it. Will we stand up and sign as our forefathers did, knowing that we are imperfect people in an imperfect world that wish to be better. Striving to be better tomorrow than we are today. Striving to be better today than we were yesterday. We must understand that our past does not define us.
"Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future." Oscar Wilde.
The greatest teacher in life is failure, and we must fail forward. Learning from our past for a brighter future for all. Because all are created equal.
- Let us take this day and remember our past, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Because if we don't, we will certainly repeat it. -
Happy Independence Day
Alex