Independence Day, 2016
by Howard Stansell
I recall a time long ago when I first rode a bicycle by myself. Although I have had similar feelings through the years, none quite compare to pushing off that curb, unattended, for the first time. Close, I suppose was my first solo in an airplane or maybe the night my father gave me the keys to the family car. Common to all these personal events was the careful notion that it was time to dissolve the bands that connected me to an obsolete dependence. Common, also to that experience was the requirement to act responsibly. One cannot sustain without the other.
Lasting life memories, for me, are often illuminated by the freedom and, yes, the responsibility defined in each moment.
Bound by the laws of Nature and of Nature’s God, our great nation was formed around the self-evident truth that all men are created equal; that we are endowed by (our) Creator with certain unalienable rights among which are, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Love of God and love of neighbor are unavoidable hallmarks of our national inheritance.
As we exercise our freedom and prepare to celebrate INDEPENDENCE DAY, The Fourth of July, 2016 let us rebirth the essential need of all mankind to be free! Let us revive the desire to be more like those brave colonists who pledged their lives, their fortunes, their sacred honor to declare a separation from tyranny and subjugation. Let us honor their courage, character and sacrifice by continuing the struggle against those forces, foreign and domestic, that would alter the original purpose of The Declaration of Independence. It is our responsibility! When in the course of human events…
God forever bless the United States of America!
